Today on the Aurora’s 10:00 am whale watch, we ventured to the northern portion of Stellwagen bank and observed three different species of large whales. Seas were flat calm and we were able to spot several deep feeding minke whales quickly and easily. At least five of these small, ‘shy’ individuals popped up here and there throughout the trip.

Diablo. Do you see her scar?

We spotted a blow in the distance and found a slowly traveling humpback whale that we identified as a female named Diablo. Diablo is a type 5 humpback with a very dark fluke and was in the area with a calf last year. Tegan, our research intern, recognized her by a scar next to her dorsal fin on the right side.

Diablo is reluctant to show her fluke when she dives, but we were able to get a few pictures of the underside today to confirm her identity during the trip. Diablo began taking longer dives and changing direction – a sign she was sub-surface feeding. She gave the passengers great close-to-boat looks and surprised us all with a huge tail breach, slapping the surface and showing off her dark fluke.  We finished the trip with a pair of finbacks deep feeding that we found right before we had to turn back to Boston.  There were a few other large whales spotted from a distance – possibly another finback and one or two solo humpbacks.

Diving gannets and some harbor porpoise showed up today as well, which is a good indication of food in the area.

-- Christine