Whale Watch Log Report, Afternoon of May 17, 2012

What an incredible afternoon cruise we had today!

We got to see humpbacks, Atlantic white-side dolphins and finback whales! We first saw some humpback whales who were feeding together in a small group. Initially, about three humpbacks were feeding right at the surface of the water using their bubble net technique.



Shortly after, birds began to flock to the feeding site. We noticed on the surface of the water there were huge areas of the ocean where you could see tiny little fish jumping up out of the water. It looked like little droplets of water falling over the ocean. Soon enough a pod of about fifteen dolphins came to join feeding humpbacks to feed on the giant school of fish.

Finally, five finback whales came swimming through to feed with the other smaller humpbacks and dolphins. Growing up to fifty-five feet in length, humpback whales are by no means small but these finback whales were enormous (and can grow up to eighty feet)! The finbacks were feeding just below the surface swimming quickly along with one another.



Because fin whales are so fast, they often surface briefly and swim quickly away, popping up a hundred yards away from you. As a result, they are often difficult to see; however, these fin whales stayed right in our area swimming back and forth across the swarms of fish. I was so excited to see these beautiful creatures and I know everyone on board was too! Hopefully this was the first of many days we get to see these swimming giants!

~Tasia, Naturalist

Photos by Ashley Schaffert

Whale Watch Log Report, Morning of May 17, 2012

Today was an absolutely beautiful day out at Stellwagen Bank! It was one of the first sunny days in quite a while and the sea was calm. We headed out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and quickly came across a mother humpback and her calf. We were able to get right up next to them and watched them as they tail lobbed and were kick feeding.



We were unable to identify the mother to determine if it was the same mother calf pair we've been seeing a lot because rather than showing us the underside of their fluke they were using their flukes to force bubbles down into the water. Another whale who was with them didn't appear to be feeding but was rather logging or laying right below the surface of the water coming up every so often for air. 

The humpback whales were not in large groups as they have been the past week. It seems like many have broken up into smaller feeding groups. We saw about ten to twelve blows from whales around us in the distance but they appeared to stay in pairs.



We were, however, lucky enough to see the mother and calf open mouth feeding right up next to the boat and got to see some partial breaching in the distance.  We also had a three Atlantic White-sided dolphins come really close to us as they swam across our bow. It was a very successful whale watch and a beautiful morning cruise!

~Tasia, Naturalist

Photos by Ashley Schaffert

Whale Watch Log Report, Afternoon of May 16, 2012

This afternoon's whale watching trip was absolutely beautiful! After almost a week of rain the sun came out and so did the animals. We went back out to where we saw a lot of bubble net feeding in the morning on the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.

 

Anchor and her calf were still out there feeding. It looked like the calf was learning quite a few new feeding tricks. The calf was learning how to kick feed by using her fluke or tail to slowly force large air pockets under the surface of the water in an attempt to concentrate the fish into a volume that can be swallowed up in one gulp.

The calf was also learning how to bubble feed all on his/her own. We saw the calf and mother blowing bubbles simultaneously on opposite sides of the boat and quickly lunging up at their own bubbles in unison, engulfing the fish at the surface of the water.



The whales were also combining their kick feeding with this "double loop" method of feeding. Anchor and her calf were also with Etch A Sketch, a whale who was part of a migration tracking study a number of years ago. In fact, we could see the mark next to his dorsal fin where his GPS tag had once been but had fallen off quite some time ago.

It was really amazing to see such a young calf learning strategic feeding techniques by example of the mother. You could see the calf mirroring the mothers behavior to a tee. It really gave us an understanding for how intelligent these creatures are.

~Tasia, Naturalist

Whale Watch Log Report, Morning of May 16, 2012

What an amazing morning we had out at Stellwagen Bank! We knew it was going to be a great day when one of the first sites in the distance was a humpback whale repeatedly breaching (or jumping) clear out of the water!


As we slowly approached the activity site, the whale continued to breach about every five to ten minutes and we quickly realized the whale was only a calf! The mother, who we saw yesterday morning and identified as Anchor was feeding close by with about seven to eight other humpbacks. Among them was Ventisca who we also saw yesterday and identified by the striking white patterns on her dorsal fin.

There were a number of humpback groups bubble net feeding around us but Ventisca and Anchor's group was, by far, putting on the most spectacular feeding show. After the group dove for the first time, we watched and waited as masses of bubbles floated to the surface and birds congregated above the water. All of the sudden six whales lunged out of the surface of the water as the strained the water out of their mouths! It was an amazing sight to see! The whales continued the bubble net feeding for the next hour each time taking turns feeding. 

A pod of about ten to fifteen Atlantic white-sided dolphins also came through to enjoy the bountiful supply of food, one of which jumped straight up out of the water and dove right back in to where he jumped out, an excited display to view from so close a distance. 

All the while, we saw a couple whales flipper slapping right next to the boat! They were laying on their backs while slapping their giant pectoral fins on the surface of water. 

Even though it was raining pretty hard when we left central wharf and expected fairly high swells, we had many guests with us this morning including an extremely enthusiastic group of freshmen from Catholic Memorial High School. Luckily enough, the water turned out to be quite calm and the sun was out by the time we were heading home! The group that came out with us today were fantastic company and we were all thrilled to see so much activity out on the water today! 

~Tasia, Naturalist

Whale Watch Log Report, Morning of May 15, 2012

We had another exciting day on the Voyager III out at Stellwagen Bank! Once again, we headed to the southwest corner of the bank where many of the whales and dolphins have been feeding the past week or so. We were lucky enough to come across four to five separate groups of humpback whales collaboratively feeding, three of which groups were nearby the boat. We were able to spot these feeding sites from quite a distance as masses of seabirds crowded the surface of the ocean around the feeding whales.

Each feeding group had anywhere between four and eight whales collaboratively working together. We saw a lot of bubble net feeding and tail lobbing right up next to the boat! It was exciting to also see a mother calf pair in one of these groups. Using pictures of fluke patterns taken during the trip today, we identified eight individuals including Falcon, Wizard, Anchor, Ventisca, Fracture, Underline, Canopy and Rapier who was the mother of the calf.

Not only did we see tons of action today but we had calm, steady seas with great weather. All in all we had a fantastic whale watch today!

~Tasia, Naturalist

Whale Watch Log Report, May 14, 2012

What a day out on the water! We had FIVE different species of marine mammals! We had humpbacks feeding by blowing bubbles, and also doing some kicking. We got some great up close looks at these whales, two of the whales we had were Ganesh, and Mogul!

We had a TON of minke whales all around us, really zooming all over feeding.  These whales which are typically  shy species was everywhere and letting us have some neat looks at them.



There was a small pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins that passed through all the activity, and showed off some of their own abilities to be energetic.  Several of them jumped just like in the movies, a behavior that isn't just for the stage.


 

Other than whales we also had two different seal species, Grey and harbor. We first spotted several Grey seals around us checking out what we were up too. Then a few harbor seals came to see us too, one of which was right off our bow (the front of the boat) and we could see it swimming just under the surface.

All in all truly a fantastic day and this was confirmed by many of our passengers saying those same words. Almost forgot we also had a few small warblers flying around the boat and hitching short rests by people and a bit of a ride back home.

Another note to remember to not let balloons go, when this happens they end up in the ocean and can cause a lot of damage to all marine animals including all the ones we saw today. Please help us with keeping the oceans clean and making sure trash is placed in the proper places and things like balloons aren't released into the sky.

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist
Photos by M. Rocha

[Unfortunately, balloons are not an uncommon sighting on whale watches. They were also reported on the Whale Watch Log in 2010 and 2009.]

Whale Watch Log Report, Afternoon of May 13, 2012

This afternoon's trip was just as good as this morning's trip. The whales were a bit more spread out than this morning, and they were actively searching for food, swimming in different directions after their dives.

We were able to see some great tail breaching up close to the boat, and even got an up close and personal encounter with some whale breath! It smelled so strong, we could smell it up in the wheelhouse!

Putter, a 19 year old male, was the star of the show today. He came up for air very close to the port side of the boat, then dove down underneath us. We all ran over to the starboard side, and after a few minutes, he surfaced there and we got some great looks at those fluke markings.

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and thanks again to all the families and mothers who decided to spend Mother's Day with us on the Voyager III.

Anna Pollock-Nelson

-Naturalist

Photo credit for 5.13.12: Ashley Schaffert

Whale Watch Log Report, Morning of May 13, 2012

This morning was a beautiful day to be out on the water.

On our way out to Stellwagen Bank, a few lucky passengers and I caught a glimpse of a seal peeking up above the waves. Once we got out to the Bank, we found several humpback whales kick feeding! This is quite the sight to see, as the whales bring their enormous tails out of the water and splash them down, stunning and confusing the fish.

We also got to see some open-mouth feeding as well. Humpbacks blow bubbles under the water, which confuse and corral the fish. Then, once the fish are encircled in the bubble net, the whale is able to take a big bite! We got good up-close looks at the open mouths of the whales, as well as the tops of their heads.

We were not only able to see several groups of humpback whales up close on this morning's trip, but we also got to see a mother and calf, which was the perfect sight for a Mother's Day whale watch. With extremely calm seas and nice weather, today turned out to be a great day!

Whale Watch Log Report, Afternoon of May 12, 2012

This afternoon we headed back out to where we had whales this morning for our first afternoon trip of the season! When we reached the location we found a a group of five humpbacks all traveling together, and going on short  dives. This group was awesome in that when they would go on dives they would all fluke!  We got some good looks at all of these whales plus we had a minke whale that was zooming all around while the humpbacks were on a dive. While we mainly watched our group of five we did have several other humpbacks in the area. Two of the humpbacks we had were Mostaza again and Falcon! 

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist
photo by M.Rocha

Whale Watch Log, Morning of May 12, 2012

What a great morning out on the water!  We got to watch to pretty amazing behavior today.  First we found a group of humpback whales that were doing some lunge feeding, and really lunging out of the water. We also had a pair of humpbacks that was a short distance out and one of those animals was doing some flipper slapping.  A few of the humpbacks that we had this morning were Mostaza (an adult female who is Salt's 2000 calf), Fracture (an adult male who is the 1990 calf of Cat's Paw), and Canopy to just name a who that I got ID shots on. A beautiful morning trip! 

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist
Photo by M.Rocha

Whale Watch Log Report, May 11, 2012

Amazing! That is truly a way to describe our trip today, which is the word I heard used by several passengers today.

We headed back to the southwestern corner on Stellwagen Bank, where the humpbacks have been numerous. As we approached the spot where we spotted one blow, we soon realized that there was several more blows all around us, plus dolphins!

We had a group of five humpbacks all traveling together and diving at the same time,and while they were down another pair of humpbacks would surface. This whole time we watched the whales we had several dolphins swimming all around us, and surfing the waves. Just after we started to head home, we had another humpback pop up with a bubble net from feeding.

Incredible way to end the trip.I know we had lots of first time whale watch passengers on today's trip and hope they realize that today was an exceptional trip and if they go on another one just remember every trip is different!

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist
Photos by M.Rocha

Whale Watch Log Report May 10, 2012

Today was a wet but very eventful day. We again headed to the southern part of Stellwagen Bank to where a lot of the action has been occurring this week. We first came across a pod of about 10 white-sided dolphins. Close by, another whale boat was watching a very active humpback whale and we were lucky enough to approach just as the whale breached. After seeing a couple blows in the distance we sailed over to get a closer look at the feeding humpbacks. After about 10 minutes, a pod of white sided dolphins and a few other humpbacks joined in on the feeding.

The feeding frenzy began as birds swooped into the water to get their share of the food. Bubble net feeding quickly ensued as approximately 6 humpacks collaborated in feeding efforts. After bubbles emerged from below, two whales lunged towards surface of the water with full mouths of food. Two different whales quickly lunged through the same net of bubbles to get a piece of the action. Throughout the feeding a number of dolphin pods joined in on the feeding while a handful of blows were seen all around the boat in the distance. All in all, we had an amazing day, getting to see a number of bubble net feedings, which ended with a breech right off our bow.

~Tasia, Naturalist
Photos by M. Rocha

Whale Watch Log May 8, 2012

Today's trip was a bit cold and bumpy, but that didn't seem to bother the whales. We headed out to the southern part of Stellwagen to where we had whales yesterday, and first came across a single humpback that was tail lobbing.

 

Tail lobbing is when a whale is basically doing a head stand and waving his tail above the water.  Then this animal started to flipper slap. After it went down on a longer dive, we decided to go and check out some of the other whales that were close by us. 

 

This first whale we had was the 2007 calf of Ivory.  The other whales in the distance were doing  flipper slapping, and tail breaches, with some chin and full breaches mixed in! 

 

So many whales out on the water today and all doing so many different and neat behaviors.  One of the other whales we had that was out today was Scylla's 2008 calf.  Such a great day today!

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist
Photos by M.Rocha

Whale Watch Log, May 7, 2012

We had one of the best trips of the season today! We started out a little slow then saw one blow in the distance and then blows everywhere, and splashes.



We had anywhere from from eight to ten humpbacks. One of them was flipper slapping and rolling on the surface, while others were doing some open mouth feeding.



While all of this was going on we had a grey seal pop up. Then a few minkes swam by, then at the end a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins!



What a great day and incredible looks at the animals today. 

~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist and Tasia, Naturalist
Photos by M.Rocha

Whale Watch Log Report, Sunday May 6, 2012

We arrived at Stellwagen Bank, and after cruising around for a bit, we were able to see some splashes off in the distance. So we headed in that direction to get some better looks. Through the binoculars I could see that the whale was slapping its tail on the surface (lobtail behavior), making big splashes. As we got closer, the whale stopped and was no longer in sight.



But fortunately we spotted an adult humpback and its calf not too long thereafter and we had several great looks at them — some very close — as they stayed near the surface and leisurely swam in one area. The calf rolled a couple of times while near the surface and so we were able to catch glimpses of its fluke. We were unable to see the mother's fluke and so are not able to ID the adult whale.

I enjoyed meeting and talking with many of our guests today, and I want to thank everyone for joining us on this great day out on the water.

-Joedee Foster, Naturalist
Photos by A. Schaffert