Saturday, August 29, 2015 Whale Watches

9 am trip - Tammy

We headed toward the east side of Stellwagen Bank and had an exciting morning filled with feeding activity! Ten to fifteen humpbacks were spread throughout the area feeding along with at least one finback whale. We got to see whales kicking to stun bait and lunging mouth open.

humpback with mouth open

humpback whale finishing a lunge

 Two mom and calf pairs made appearances today. We got to spend time with Abrasion and calf and Cardhu and calf. Both pairs spent lots of time at the surface.

Abrasion and calf

 We had several looks at a well-known male humpback whale named Colt, one of my favorites! Colt was initially traveling and feeding alone but then he paired up with a female humpback named Samara.  Our last looks were of Colt and Samara traveling and diving together. 

humpback whale Colt

 On our way home we spotted the dorsal fin of an ocean sunfish skulling back and forth at the surface. Great views of this fish!

ocean sunfish or Mola mola

2pm trip

We started this afternoon with a pair of humpbacks that were resting.  Both animals logged side by side, just below and at the surface which allowed us just sit nearby and get excellent looks at their bodies.



humpback whales resting

  After leaving this pair, we headed to the east and eventually spotted some splashing in the distance. This splashing was actually a mother and calf humpback pair that were breaching!  Mom’s name is Cardhu and both animals breached several times.

Cardhu and calf

spinning breach!

 We also got to see flipper slapping from mom and calf as well as tail breaches and chin breaches from the calf. It’s interesting to think about what might have been going on between these two!

Cardhu (foreground) and calf flipper slapping

a look at the head and blowholes

While in this area we also had quick looks at another humpback pair passing through, as well as a minke whale. It was a fantastic afternoon of whale watching! 

Saturday, August 22, 2015 Whale Watches

9 am trip - Tammy

This morning we headed toward Race Point, Provincetown where we found hundreds of sea birds and quite a few whales. We focused on two single humpback whales who were feeding deep in the water column.  Both animals were small, young whales. We had several good looks at each animal as well as distant looks at a group of three finback whales.

humpback whale

humpback whale diving

an unknown humpback whale's tail pattern

We then headed to the north and we came across a single finback whale. While we were only with this animal for one surfacing, this large whale traveled down the right side of our boat giving us a great look at its massive, stream-lined body.

finback whale

We ended our trip by spending some time with a pair of humpback whales, Cardhu and her 2015 calf. The calf was traveling alongside mom and even stopped to nurse for a few minutes.  We ended our trip on a good note with this special pair!

Cardhu and calf

2 pm trip - Tammy

Luckily the rain held off for most of this afternoon’s trip.  We headed to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank where we spotted a single humpback whale.  This humpback treated us to several spinning head breaches!

a view of a humpback whale's blowholes

We then moved on to watch a group of five humpback whales, including two mother and calf pairs. This group included Cajun and calf, Jabiru and calf and a male humpback named Pele.  We had gorgeous looks at this group as they traveled and fluked together.

humpback whale Pele fluking out

group of humpbacks

group of humpbacks diving toward the boat

On our way home we found another single humpback whale named Nile who was feeding deep. We spent a few minutes with Nile, watching her produce green bubble clouds to help capture prey and then surface through them.  It was a great afternoon trip!

Nile's fluke

Saturday, August 15, 2015 Whale Watches

9 am trip - Tammy

W e got to spend time with five different humpback whales on this morning’s trip. Large splashes caught our eye as we reached Stellwagen Bank, which turned out to be a breaching humpback! We saw several types of active behaviors including breaching, lobtailing and flipper slapping.

spinning breach

lobtailing

unknown, active humpback whale

We had quick looks at three other single humpbacks, one of which was named Startrail. These animals were traveling and diving.

 A humpback whale named Gladiator gave us some amazing looks at the end of our trip. This whale started to feed and used bubble clouds to catch prey. Gladiator created a couple of bubble clouds right next to our boat, surfacing right off the bow through the green bubbles!  It was great to see some breaching and feeding behavior this morning.

Gladiator's tail

Gladiator surfacing through a bubble cloud

2pm trip - Tammy

This afternoon we traveled east of Stellwagen Bank where we picked up a single humpback whale named Circuit.  We had beautiful views of Circuit as she stayed on the surface for several breaths in between dives.  

humpback whale Circuit diving

We then made a trek down the backside of Cape Cod to an area full of activity. Several whales and hundreds of seabirds surrounded us.  A pair of finback whales was lunge feeding just below the surface and we had great looks at the pair as they traveled beside our boat.

finback whale

We ended our trip with views of a third finback whale and a pair of humpback whales. One whale in the pair of humpbacks is named Etch-a-Sketch. The two humpbacks passed right down the right side of our boat, both whales fluking out and showing their beautiful tails. It was a great ending to a great two-species trip.

humpback whale traveling

Etch-a-sketch and friend

Saturday, August, 8, 2015 Whale Watches

9 am trip - Tammy

Today we spent the morning with 10-12 humpback whales. Our first sightings were of two different pairs of humpback whales. One pair included a whale named Bayou and the other pair included Pele.

humpback whale Pele and friend

 We then had quick looks at two single humpbacks, one of which was engaged in some kick-feeding behavior. While we could see the kicking and bubble cloud formation, the whale was lunging below the surface.

One particular, unidentified humpback whale stole the show this morning though. This animal continuously breached and flipper slapped for about 30 minutes!

flipper slapping

tail breach

full breach

 We ended our trip with looks at a female humpback named Perseid. Perseid showed us a single tail breach and some inverted lobtailing before she started traveling. We traveled parallel to Perseid as she made her way to the west, getting some great last looks.

Perseid lobtailing

2 pm trip - Tammy

Luckily for us, the humpback whales hung around  in the same spot for this afternoon's trip and we got to see some different behaviors. One humpback named A+ was kick-feeeding and lunging at the surface.

A+ kicking

A+ would powerfully surface through a bubble cloud, mouth open and lower jaw distended. This whale was almost breaching as it engulfed its prey! 

A+ lunging

 We got to spend time with a group of humpback whales that included two mom and calf pairs. Cajun and calf, Jabiru and calf, Pele, Bayou and Canopy traveled together-calves tight by their moms. This group eventually separated, but Caun and calf gave us a special treat when they approached our boat!

Cajun off the bow!

 Cajun's calf also did a little flipper slaping, rolling right on top of mom in the process! Watching these two whales was a sweet way to end our day!

Cajun (front) and her calf

Saturday, August 1, 2015 Whale Watches

9 am trip - Tammy

We had perfect weather offshore this morning; warm, sunny and a light breeze out of the south west. Most of our morning was spent with a humpback whale named Rapier and her 2015 calf.

Rapier's tail pattern

Rapier showed us some kick-feeding behavior. This is where a whale will use its tail to stun small bait fish. We saw Rapier kick feed twice and on one of those occasions she completed a huge feeding lunge right off the stern!

Rapier preparing to kick

We also had lots of great views of Rapier's calf, who stuck pretty close by mom this morning.

Rapier's calf traveling

Rapier (left) and calf (right)

Rapier (front) and calf (back)

We had several brief, but exciting sightings at the end of our trip. Quick looks at a finback whale and a minke whale gave us a three-species trip! We had also had looks at two additional humpback whales, including Rapier's 2009 calf.

2 pm trip - Tammy

Quite a few humpback whales moved into the mid-Stellwagen Bank area this afternoon. We sighted 13-16 humpbacks on this trip! Whales were traveling alone, and in groups of 2, 3 and 4. We focused on a group of four whales that included Pele, Milkweed, Cajun and her calf. Interestingly, these whales have been seen together in previous years (2010, 2011 and possibly others).

group of four humpback whales

Cajun (left) and her calf (right)

Pele's ventral tail

We had views of other groups of whales and whales traveling solo, including a whale with a very dark tail named Degree. Degree was born in 2008 to a whale named Apostrophee.

Degree's tail

A nearby active humpback whale caught our attention as it breached or jumped out of the water. This unidentified humpback breached several times and for most of us, was probably the highlight of this afternoon's trip!

humpback whale breaching