We saw as many as nine whales today. We spotted some finbacks and minkes in the distance, but chose to check out the humpback that we spotted. It was our old friend Pinball. She was surfacing close to the boat so passengers could hear her blow and see her long pectoral flippers. We also spotted another humpback, Satula. As soon as we stopped to see Satula, he went down on a dive, but as we were waiting we spotted an odd looking dorsal fin in the water. It was a basking shark! 

Basking shark

It was great to see this large toothless shark hanging near the surface while we waited for Satula. Satula was averaging 3-5 min dive times and even left us a couple fishy colored gifts at the surface when he dove. Also we had reports that Nile was nearby. It was an amazing 4 species trip!

Scar on a finback whale, possibly from a ship strike

One trip found four different fin whales in the same area. They were constantly popping up on all sides of us, giving us some incredible looks. Several times one of the whales surfaced feet off of our side which shocked all the passengers on board. The water was crystal clear so we were able to follow them when they were just below the surface. One of our fin whales surfaced with extended throat pleats that were accommodating for all the fish and water it had in its mouth. Another of our fin whales had a rather large white and pink scar on its back. It looked like it might be from a recent ship strike injury. While this was a sad thing to see, it also showed passengers how resilient these giants can be.

Nile going down on a dive: You can get a really good look at the scar on her peduncle from a previous entanglement.  That gave passengers a first-hand look at the damage entanglement in fishing gear can cause.

In this photo, you can only see a tiny bit of Nile’s right dorsal side.  Whale watch boats don’t need to see Nile’s fluke to recognize her at this point.  We’ve seen her enough lately to know the distinct hooked or curved dorsal fin on her back and that it tilts to the right.  Nile has a white scar on the right side of her dorsal fin as well. Another distinguishing mark on this side of the whale is the dimple-like scar that is from a previous satellite tag.

Grey seal

During another trip today, we headed to the southwest corner of Stellwagen after hearing some reports of whale activity. We found a finback and we were able to observe the whale deep feeding.

Aurora passengers observe a finback whale

A deep-feeding finback whale prepares to dive

The calm seas and sunny weather made it a great day for good pictures and a comfortable ride. We even had a woman on board who said it was her dream to see a whale and was ecstatic to get to see Nile.

Grey seal

Our passengers soaking up a close look at Nile

This perspective really gives you a great reference point to gauge just how large these animals are.

We enjoyed a four-species day on the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank today! First, we found a very cooperative finback whale, deep feeding and cruising slowly at the surface near the boat. There was also a grey seal spotted in the area around the finback. On the way back to Boston we spotted a different finback whale and a minke.

But the humpback whale sighting stole the show. We found Nile as she was demonstrating textbook deep feeding. On one surface, however, she lunged out of the water and slapped her chin on the water, then she did a series of full breaches right next to the boat!

Nile's breach

Nile's impressive splash

This was one of the best trips I’ve been on this year!

We had an unexpected passenger join us on board while out on the bank—a brown booby! It landed up on the third deck near the catwalk and stayed on the third deck for the remainder of our trip back to Boston.

Brown booby

Passengers loved getting a close look at this unusual guest. The Environmental Police ended up coming to check up on this unusual visitor as it did not leave the boat overnight. But the bird had flown and hopefully it's migrating back to its more tropical location. It’s quite rare to see one of these on the New England coast! [Aquarium researchers spotted a brown booby in Belize, in fact! There are also sightings of other booby species among all the seabirds on the PIPA Blog.]

Our unexpected visitor resting on deck

Another shot of our brown booby visitor

Today the boats made their way through the packed harbor and headed to the Southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. On our way to the bank, some of the boats spotted a couple different species of note. There was an elusive minke who took a quick dive and went out of sight. One group was lucky to find a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The pod looked to consist of 10 to 20 individuals!

Nile feeding on Stellwagen

But the main event was Nile on Stellwagen Bank. This 26 year-old female humpback whale was doing short dives and showing her tail on almost every dive. We observed her doing subsurface bubble cloud feeding (which may work to scare the bait into a tighter bait ball) amongst laughing and herring gulls and many recreational boaters looking to escape the heat.

Nile’s very hooked dorsal fin, it’s almost as distinctive as her fluke

Nile's fluke

The holiday also meant some special events in Boston Harbor. Besides all the recreational boaters, some passengers also got a chance to see the USS Constitution coming into the harbor. The historic ship was making its yearly trip to Castle Island to celebrate Independence Day. The evening trip also enjoyed great looks at firework displays all up and down the coast of Massachusetts!

USS Constitution on its annual foray into Boston Harbor on July 4