9 am trip - Tammy
This morning we were met with clouds, cool temperatures and a solid south easterly swell as we traveled to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Our first sighting was of a finback whale spending lots of time at the surface which allowed us to get some great looks.
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| finback whale |
We then picked up a pair of humpback whales named Nile and Pitcher. These two whales have been together for a couple of weeks now and were traveling and diving together this morning.
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| humpback whales Nile and Pitcher |
We left Nile and Pitcher to see what else we could find. Lots of birds including shearwaters and Wilson's storm petrels flew overhead and around our boat. Soon we found ourselves in an area with 4-6 minke whales, the smallest of the baleen whales. We had some quick looks at several individuals.
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| minke whale |
On our way home we saw another finback whale surface for several breaths for arching its back and going down on a dive. It was a great three species morning of whale watching!
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| finback whale |
2 pm trip - Tammy
This afternoon we traveled to the east side of the Sanctuary where we found 10-15 humpback whales. Our first sighting was of a couple of familiar "faces": humpback whales Nile and Pitcher. Both animals were logging or resting, bobbing up and down at the surface with the big rolling waves.
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| humpback whales Nile and Pitcher |
Lots of single animals were moving through the area, including a possible calf that was waiting for mom to surface. We also spent some time with another mom and calf pair, Nimbus and calf. Nimbus started doing some kick-feeding but quickly resumed traveling with her calf.
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| humpback whale Nimbus (right) and her calf (left) |
We ended our trip with several animals that passed right under the boat as they were open mouth feeding or lunge feeding. Some whales were using a kick-feeding technique and some animals were bubble net feeding. We had amazing looks at open mouths and the baleen hanging down from the upper jaw. It was a fantastic whale watch! Identified humpback whale include: Nile, Pitcher, Nimbus and calf, Angus, Aswan, Ventisca.
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| humpback whale Aswan |
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| two humpbacks using bubble net feeding |
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| open wide! |
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