While the whales were feeding deep there were quite a few gulls “attending” the whales and swooping whenever they surfaced. I even spotted a few taking off with fish in their beaks. Despite my best efforts I wasn’t able to get a photo of this, though if you look closely at my photo of the gull, you might pick out a fish’s tail sticking out of its mouth. 

The bright sun and calm waters meant we had awesome views of the humpbacks’ long bright white pectoral fins which glow green in our plankton laden waters. We decided to go exploring after a bit and continued even farther east and found a scattering of blows around us. As we admired a curious grey seal, a humpback surface close by and I was able to identify a younger animal, our un-named #27. 

This is a very small whale, especially after seeing big Nile but we got some excellent looks at this whale but it ended up taking very long dives and travelling long distances on each surfacing. We got a few looks plus a second grey seal sightings and headed back to Boston. It was an excellent day on the water for all.

— Tegan

After this encounter we moved on to check out some other whales that had been reported a few miles away! Along the way we spotted yet another finback and another separate humpback that we were unable to photograph. We spotted some splashing in the distance and decided to investigate! 

The grand finale to our whale watch was watching Spoon, Spoon’s 2015 calf and Mostaza’s 2014 calf splashing around at the surface! Both the calf and the yearling were rolling about at the surface and Spoon exhibited a huge tail breach which excited our passengers! Luckily we had a great whale watch before the forecasted storm rolled in!

— Annie Goodenough

Our Aquarium intern, Foster, jarred my attention as she witnessed a surge of white water erupting off our starboard!  She artfully identified this juvenile as Mostaza’s 2014 Calf from the dorsal fin alone!  

The airborne mountain of blubber and flesh parted the ocean surface in an eruption of white spray, reminiscent of a mechanical submarine returning from its slumber in the unseen abyss.  This celebration of power turned into a veritable tantrum, as the youth even began chin breaching and tossing its pectoral flippers about when not fully airborne.  The seas themselves became rowdy, as two swells burst upon the port pulpit, leaving all survivors drenched and clamoring for safety in the first deck cabin!

Our yearning for whale activity was sated as we departed for terrestrial grounds, and today’s endeavor was a righteous maritime introduction for people new to the majesty of our ocean.

— Rich

The calf definitely seemed to be directing its behaviors towards one of these boats with a lot of rolling, tail slashing and tail lobbing near it while Spoon spent a lot of time just below the surface a distance away. The pair would taking fluking dives ever once in a while and seemed to be travelling towards the south with every dive. Towards the end of our trip we had two fantastic passes by both Spoon and the calf.





Spoon surfaced near our boat and swam just below the surface along our side and I guess the calf decided to finally come back to mom because it also surface right near us and did a few rolls at the surface for us. The visibility into the water was great today and we got awesome looks at those glowing green pectoral fins showing us where Spoon and calf were in the water. Just as we left we spotted behavior from the calf which definitely looked like it was nursing! Always fun to see!

In the afternoon we headed out towards the southwest corner were all the action had moved. Initially we didn’t spot anything and were debating heading farther east to where the Aurora was when we spotted a huge splash – a breach! We went to investigate and spotted Spoon and calf again. The calf was very active with tail breaches and tail lobs and flipper slaps. Even mom got in on the action this time and gave a few flipper slaps. Seeing a full grown humpback’s pectoral fin, especially one as big as Spoon, is always a treat! Things quieted down for this pair and they kept up their fluking dives and logging. I also spotted my first Wilson’s storm petrel of the season today and my first Cory’s shearwater two of my favorite pelagic sea birds!

— Tegan

***

At first they were doing 4-5 minute dives and not spending too much time at the surface. Then, after we had been observing them for about 20 minutes, the calf became very curious about us and came right up on our port side for a good long look at our boat and passengers!  This little precocious guy was so close that up on our researcher platform on the third deck we had a hard time seeing it, but our passengers sure did get fantastic looks! At one point, it became a bit difficult to tell who was watching whom.



The calf rolled and showed us its ventral pleats, flippers, and belly button while Spoon rested nearby.  She seemed very relaxed (or perhaps a bit worn out taking care of such a vibrant calf) while the calf investigated us and the other boats in the area up close.

In the afternoon, we returned in search of Spoon and calf and perhaps some other individuals down off the cape. As we got into the area, we quickly resighted the mother and calf, but also had a third individual pop up not too far from them! This might have been one of the yearlings we have been seeing consistently over the past couple of weeks. This third individual did not join Spoon and calf, but continued to remain in the area and even began to do some intermittent surface activity in the distance.  At one point, Spoon and her curious calf came right up next to us!  The calf investigated our boat once again, and then all of a sudden Spoon herself gave a tremendous tail breach!



It is possible that she may have been responding to that other surface active humpback in the distance.  Since sound travels 6 times faster in water than it does in air, whales are able to communicate primarily via sound and across long distances. We have often observed when one whale begins surface activity, others in the area might respond as well. Her calf continued to ham it up a bit until we moved off in search of a few other individuals in the area.  We drove a bit down the back side of the cape and saw a few other blows spread out in the distance and were able to get a few quick looks of another humpback with a very distinctive dorsal fin.  Unfortunately every time this whale fluked, it was at the wrong angle for an ID – however with such a unique dorsal fin, we should be able to find out who it was eventually.  We also were briefly investigated by a very curious gray seal that did a circle around us!

— Heidi (with interns Jess and Megan)

***

This afternoon on board the Aurora for the 3pm whale watch we returned to our regular spot on the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. We found 11 scattered humpbacks in the area. First we spent some time with two single humpbacks that ended up joining together.

It was one of our unknown/un-named whales and Ouija. They were doing short dives of about 6 minutes and fluking. Next we moved a little west to find a trio of humpbacks that as we approached began to pectoral flipper slap. The active juvie was Wizard 2014 Calf! 

Also in the trio was two large adults, Nile and Pitcher. The group surfaced nearby the boat towards the end of our trip, which really gave passengers some insight on how large Nile and Pitcher really were in compared to the smaller yearling. Overall it was a great calm sunny day on the bank.

— Hannah

— Tegan

***

On today’s 12pm whale watch about the Aurora, we headed to the SW corner. Our first pair we spent time with were two younger whales, Ouija and Clamp 2012 calf. While we observed these two, we also spotted some sooty shearwaters – it’s good to see them out here again! This pair began to rest, so we decided to move onto a new pair in the distance. 

On the 9 am trip we arrived on the southwest corner to flat flat seas and great visibility. We spotted a group of whales that seemed to be doing some pectoral slapping and moved in to check it out. This was by far the best decision of the day. We found Spoon and her 2015 calf as well as Flamingo’s 2014 calf pectoral fin slapping and rolling around. Both Flamingo’s 2014 calf and Spoon’s 2015 calf decided to swim right under the boat, and this whale watch went to “woah” levels of awesome very very quickly. 

 Flamingo’s 2014 spent the next 20 minutes slowly swimming under the boat, rolling to look at us and just hanging nose to the boat for all to see. As a naturalist I almost never get to experience whales from the first deck or the bow but today I was just another excited whale watcher hanging over the rail to get a glimpse of this amazing animal. No picture can capture truly capture the moment of going eye to eye with a humpback whale!

Our 2pm trip was much more a normal affair. The seas had picked up a tiny bit and we headed out again to find a few more humpbacks in the area scattered throughout in small groups logging or taking dives. 

We were able to identify Nile, Wizard’s 2014 calf, Flamingo’s 2014 calf, among the whales in the area. 

Overall it was day that I’m not likely to forget anytime soon.

— Tegan

Music spent the entire trip flipper slapping and elicited lots of oohs and ahhs from our guest. She even breached right next to the boat! Music is a prime example of how and why humpbacks in the Gulf of Maine are named. Take a look at this perfect music note right in place on her right fluke (see photo). These marks are not natural but rather scars left from an orca attack, likely within the first year of her life.

This morning we also spotted Spoon, her calf along with Flamingo’s 2014 calf.

By the afternoon, the wind and sea conditions had elevated, making for a bumpy ride. Captain Bill, along with our crew and guests powered through the waves back to the southwest corner where we found about 10 to 15 humpbacks! Though there were a good number of whales, their long dives in conjunction with the sea conditions made it tricky to track these animals. Luckily, Captain Bill worked his magic and safely brought us to a few different groups. These whales, which likely were subsurface feeding, included unknowns 3, 17 and 25. Vault Music and Mostaza’s 2014 calf were also in the mix this afternoon!

Overall, we had a great day on the water, but we are definitely crossing our fingers for the seas to calm once again.

— Tasia

Passengers were treated to lunge feeding and lots of fluke up dives by multiple humpbacks. For the majority of our trip, we were amazed to observe thousands of sandlance from the surface of the water. It seemed as if the water was glittering and bubbling from all the fish. 

On the 2pm trip, we returned to the southwest corner and found the activity level from the morning had slowed down. We found 6-8 scattered humpbacks in the area, as well as a mom/calf fin whale pair. We spent time with Mostaza 2014 Calf who was doing a bit of logging. We also spent some time with a few more humpbacks that are part of our Unknowns catalog (that haven’t been named yet). 

See attached photos of a herring gull with a fresh caught sandlance and a grey seal that was watching us.

— Hannah and Cassie