We started out heading south and worked our way down the western edge. We found two ocean sunfish, or Mola mola, within a couple miles of one another. The second sunfish was actually moving around and looking at passengers. After observing it for several minutes, the Mola mola breached!

Photo: Doug DellaPorta, Cetacea crew member

Photo: Doug DellaPorta, Cetacea crew member

On another trip we headed north where we were able to spot a large school of bluefin tuna chasing after small bait fish, which we observed for a few minutes. Unfortunately, we encountered some fog and bad luck during some trips today and there were no whales to be found. Since all passengers are guaranteed to see whales, they were issued rain checks to return again another day to try to spot whales.

You'll find Mola mola all over the Aquarium's blogs, and beyond!

• Check out this recent sighting by the right whale researchers in the Bay of Fundy. 
• Learn how to identify the fin of a Mola mola when compared to a basking or great white shark. 
• See why even Aquarium shark researchers think Mola mola are cool in this fun piece from the WGBH Curiosity Desk.

This morning on board the Asteria we headed out along the shipping lanes with a plan to head north once we got to the edge of the bank. It was grey skies but we still had decent visibility. Not that far on to the bank we came across, or rather is came across us, a large minke whale which circled us for a while giving the passengers some great looks.

Doric

Everyone was very excited after this first look that when we left in search of some larger whales they were ecstatic when we did find a humpback whale! We found Doric, a 12 year old born in 2001, doing some feeding. This whale was staying down long, around 5 minutes but would surface near us and spend enough time on the water to really get a sense of how big this animal actually is. With the lighting and the close surfacings I was able to get some great shots including the attached photo of the scars on Doric’s right side. You can see the dimple like scar which may be from a sat tag as well as that long scar just above it. Doric also has a scar on its tail just where the fluke meets the tail stock which could be from an entanglement. It was a great day out on the water with some different whales.

This morning aboard the Aurora we headed to mid-bank to find a few scattered humpback whales. We first stopped for a brief look at basking shark, then moved onto Scylla. Scylla at first made some tail breaches in the distance, and then began logging as we approached her.

Pinball fluking in flat calm seas

We decided to move onto to Pinball, who was deep feeding and traveling taking consistent dives. On our last few looks she began to slow down, and fluke several times/tail flicked before we left. Very calm seas again today!

Pinball

When she finally did go down on a dive, she brought her tail really far out of the water and slowly sank down. After some close looks at her on both sides of our boat, we headed back to Boston.

Mogul acrobatics

Mogul

Nile snapping as she lunges at the surface

Our sunset was pretty overcast, but the sky ended up turning out very nicely as we headed home.

Mogul

Learn more and buy tickets for a New England Aquarium Whale Watch with our partners at Boston Harbor Cruises! Check out their handy app on Facebook that can help you plan your trip, too. 

We found lots of activity toward the south of the bank today. First, we spent some time with Pinball. She was doing 3 minute dives. We saw evidence of some bubble feeding and even witnessed a little kick-feeding. She was fluking with every dive as well.

Nile's full body breach

Next we moved ahead to some blows we saw in the distance. We found a finback, but as soon as we stopped the boat, it took a dive and was gone for a while. So we moved ahead to another blow and found Nile. As soon as we reached her, she surprised us with 5 consecutive breaches!!! First a tail breach, then a full body breach, then 3 head breaches! It was amazing!

Nile head breach

Nile flipper slapping alongside Pinball

We found FOUR humpback whales in the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank today. Pinball and Nile were moving around quite a bit in the same area as a pair of whales named Geometry and Etch-A-Sketch. The dynamic duo was bubble feeding and coming up to the surface with enlarged throats. Their heads came quite a ways out of the water, giving passengers some incredible looks at their pleats!

A surprise close encounter with our pair Geometry and Etch-A-Sketch as they swam at our boat and dove under us

Geometry is a male born in 1997 to a whale named Star, and Etch-A-Sketch is a female born in 1998 to a whale named Thalassa.

Since the whales were all changing directions and moving around, we were able to get great looks at all four and have whales on both sides of our boat at once! It was a very exciting and busy day out on the North Atlantic—spectacular weather with blue, sunny skies and lots of whales.