Today aboard the Cetacea we headed to the mid bank/northwest corner in search of whales. Once we got to Stellwagen we almost immediately came across a pod of 30-50 Atlantic white sided dolphins.

Atlantic white-sided dolphins

They stayed with us for about ten minutes and periodically came close to the boat on the port and starboard sides giving passengers close up looks of a few mother/calf pairs.  Though we spent the rest of the trip searching, we soon encountered patches of fog making it nearly impossible to spot whales.  We returned home and all passengers were issued rain checks.

— Annie W.

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This afternoon we headed out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. As we approached the bank, we encountered some very thick fog! Thick fog can be a naturalist’s worst enemy because it makes it nearly impossible to spot for whales in the distance. We really lucked out today though because as the fog cleared slightly, we spotted some splashing at the edge of the fog!

Flipper slapping

We started of our trip with a lone humpback who was flipper slapping at the surface, this individual ducked down on a dive so we moved over to even more activity in the distance. We encountered a huge group of humpbacks which consisted of Perseid and her 2014 calf, Storm, Pele and Pepper!

Perseid's calf tail slapping

The group of adults would duck down on 5 minute dives, likely doing some subsurface feeding, while Perseid’s calf was active at the surface! The calf continued to roll, flipper-slap, tail-slap and breach! This very active calf was so much fun to watch!

Pitcher's fluke

Towards the end of our trip, we were approached by a group of three other whales! They turned out to be Nile and her 2014 calf along with Pitcher! Suddenly, Nile’s calf surprised everyone on board with a HUGE full breach just off the port bow! It was a stunning end to the trip! We are so lucky to have had such great sightings on such a foggy afternoon.

Sunset over Boston

The fog made for a very unique sunset!

On the way back to Boston, the fog was extremely thick! Once we made it past Georges Island, things started to clear up a bit and we saw one of the most unique and beautiful sunsets of the summer! It was an awesome trip from start to finish and I’m so glad the forecasted rain held out until just now.

—Annie G.