After a few days of rough seas, we were so happy to head out to Stellwagen on this beautiful Saturday. We started our search around mid-bank and then turned south towards the southwest corner.

Rainbow!

We spotted a whale in the distance and approached it slowly. This whale turned out to be a very elusive finback whale. After the whale surfaced far in the distance, we decided to continue a bit further to a few other blows in the area.

Warrior's fluke

There were 7 humpbacks in the area today and we spent the bulk of our trip watching a trio including Warrior, Mars, and Spike. We were amused by the combined ferocity of names today because Mars is the Roman God of war! These three were taking about 5 minute dives and surfaced several times close to the boat. Towards the end of our trip, the group surfaced on the starboard side, travelled across the bow and then gave then passengers super close looks as they continued to swim along the port side. It felt like we were being circled by these humpbacks. Perhaps they were curious of our presence!

Note the white entanglement scars

One of the humpbacks, Mars, has a pretty mangled fluke. It appears as though this individual has been entangled at least once before. Around the tailstock there is deep scar, and around the left fluke there is a bunch of scar tissue and a hunk missing from the trailing edge.

Unknown whale fluke

There was plenty of fishing gear in the area today to remind us that entanglements are all too common an occurrence. Either way, it was a beautiful day out on the water and we’re happy to see some new individuals in the area!

— Annie G

***

Later on the 12:00 whale watch we had our first wildlife sighting right by the South Boston Fish Pier, a harbor seal. We had left the dock only a few minutes prior and we stopped to give passengers a great look at this little creature. We saw a second near Spectacle Island as well.

Mars' troubling entanglement scars Learn about recent right whale entanglement from Aquarium researchers

We traveled out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen and found a handful of blows in the area.  We followed Rattan and Treasure, two humpbacks not commonly seen on trips, and they were a little elusive today. We saw the pair fluking on each of their dives and it was great to see the difference in the coloration of their flukes.

Rattan's fluke

Then we moved towards Provincetown and got great close looks at Spike, Moray/Warrior, and Mars crossing our bow. They were surfacing more readily than Rattan and Treasure, and Mars lifted her tail high into the air next to our bow and waved it around at passengers. It was a beautiful day out on the water and we were able to see a number of different pelagic bird species, including Northern Gannets, Manx and Greater Shearwaters, and Eiders.

— Laura Cupicha