Today on the Aurora we headed out in beautiful, glass-calm seas out to the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank. We started our trip with Mostaza’s 2014 Calf along with Tongs. This pair was logging when we first spotted them.
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| Lazy flipper slap |
At one point during this logging session, Tongs brought her enormous flipper out of the water for a single flipper-slap! This pair slowly travelled throughout the area during the rest of the trip. We spotted another single whale who turned out to be Clamp’s 2012 Calf. After a while of watching these whales, we moved on to check out another group.
In this group we spotted four fantastic whales including Nile, Pitcher Wizard’s 2014 Calf and another unknown. Captain Chip did a great job getting us at the perfect angle for us to ID each of these whales as they fluked one at a time! On our way off of Stellwagen, we got one more quick glimpse of another humpback named Ouija! There were many scattered herring gulls who appeared busy today searching for fish at the surface. The calm seas were exceptional today.
— Annie G
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We had a great day of whale watching today on board the Asteria. The day started out with a quick look at “unknown 16” and Ouija, both solo diving. Nearby Nile, Pitcher, and Wizard’s 2014 calf were diving together methodically, diving and surfacing in the same sequence each time.
Dozens of gulls fed at the surface while these whales were down. It’s likely that many of the whales in the area were doing some midwater feeding. A duo including Clamp’s 2012 calf swam into the area as we made our way back to Boston.
Dozens of gulls fed at the surface while these whales were down. It’s likely that many of the whales in the area were doing some midwater feeding. A duo including Clamp’s 2012 calf swam into the area as we made our way back to Boston.
This afternoon the same trio of humpbacks had tired themselves out and were now logging on the surface. All across the southwest corner solos and duos continued diving, likely subsurface feeding. The gulls were nowhere to be found. The bait potentially may have moved a bit lower in the water column denying the gulls access to their snacks. These whales included “unknown 25”, “unknown 17”, Clamp’s 2012 calf and Mostaza’s 2014 calf.
— Tasia
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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.
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| Nile and Wizard's 2014 calf flipper slapping |
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!
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| Oujia's fluke |
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.
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| Nile's blow holes |
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| Harbor seal |
— Hannah
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