Today on board the Asteria for the 10am whale watch, we began our trip by heading towards the southwest corner of the bank. After leaving the dock, we talked with some other whale watching vessels and heard that there were some good sightings up north. We like to start our trips with a general plan, but can easily change them to ensure the greatest whale sightings possible!

Northstar rolling

Once we arrived at the northwest corner we found 2 scattered groups of humpbacks, totaling to 5 individuals. We began with a group of whales that we initially could not discern whether it was 2 or 3 humpbacks. As we approached we quickly recognized Northstar and Hippocampus as they took a dive.

Komodo

But on the next surfacing, 3 whales popped up! The third individual with Northstar and Hippocampus was Komodo. Komodo is a new sightings for us this season! This group was taking 5 minute dives, but Komodo would only surface every other time (taking 10 minute dives).



At one point the group surfaced right in front of the boat, which excited passengers—understandably! Although we spent the majority of the trip with this trio, as we were leaving we had a quick glimpse of the two other humpbacks in the area. Thankfully Captain Deb positioned the boat in a favorable way so that we could snap a photo and ID the individuals. It was Cajun and Samara. This pair was taking longer dives, about 11 minutes. Overall, it was a beautiful day out on Stellwagen Bank.

Best,
Hannah and Haylee

***

Samara and Cajun's dorsal fins

On the 1:30 whale watch we headed towards the northwest corner were we’d heard reports of whales from earlier in the day. West of the north west corner we came across a pair of whales. The animals seemed to be logging, spending a lot of time not doing much at the surface, so while we couldn’t get an identification I was pretty sure one was Cajun based on her distinct dorsal fin shape.

Komodo and Cajun

Dorsal fins are not a sure fire way to identify whales but can be a good indicator of what whale you might be looking at (we did get a fluking dive later in the trip which confirmed my suspicion that this was Cajun). Cajun spent her time logging and the second whale would occasionally go down on a short non-fluking dive and occasionally a third whale would show up with this pair. The third whale turned out to by Komodo, a new whale for me this season, and she wouldn’t come up away from the pair and travel towards them but only surface right next to them despite taking much longer dives than the other two.

Silly whales

It’s always interesting to see whales acting outside the behaviors we usually classify as ‘associated whales’. The third whale turned out to be Samara, one of Scylla’s calves. Samara had a lot of gray pigment on the right side of her rostrum and chin area that looked like it could be covered in some sediment or perhaps a parasite or other biofilm that grows on whales. We also had a group flying a drone on board today which was able to get some really beautiful aerial footage of the whales.

— Tegan

***

Up close with the whales

It was a beautiful day out on the water! On our 12pm trip aboard the Aurora, we went up to the northwest corner where we found a trio of humpback whales. Cajun, Samara and Komodo were making about 6 minute dives but spending a lot of time on the surface of the water, traveling slowly west while at the surface. Each time they surfaced, they swam in the same formation, Cajun in the middle (the oldest of this trio), Samara on her left and Komodo on her right.

The trio

We noticed on a few occasions that Komodo would not surface with Cajun and Samara but rather stay submerged until the following surfacing. At times, Komodo wouldn’t come up for a breath for over 10 minutes! Komodo was exhibiting this same behavior on the 10 am trip but with a different duo which I find incredibly fascinating and slightly puzzling. From their surface behavior, it’s likely that these humpbacks were foraging, so either looking for food or actually feeding.

Blue shark

Today was an extra special whale watch because we got up close and personal with a blue shark! I have only seen blue sharks on Stellwagen Bank a few times and often they can be a bit shy and swim to the depths when approached. They are one of the few pelagic sharks that can be seen at Stellwagen Bank and are considered to be near threatened by the IUCN. Often these sharks are killed purely for their fins but their largest threat especially in this area is bycatch. Governor Deval Patrick this summer signed a law to ban the possession and sale of shark fins in Massachusetts. He signed the document right at The New England Aquarium! While we are a whale watch and talk primarily with our passengers about protective measures of whales, they are only one of many species that the New England Aquarium and our local government work hard to protect!

Floating movie set!

Star sighting in the harbor!!! On our way into Central Wharf, we passed the floating set of the second Ted movie produced by Seth McFarlane, starring Mark Wahlberg and a fuzzy teddy bear, Ted. If you take a look at the small boat on the right, you may spot the famous this famous teddy bear and a diver which may possibly be our hometown Marky Mark.

— Tasia

This morning on the 9am whale watch onboard the Cetacea our captain decided to mix things up a little and we headed more towards the south rather than to our usual spot on the northwest corner.

Dyad swims among fishing gear

A bird is dwarfed next to Dyad's fluke

We reached the western edge of the bank and found a female humpback whale named Dyad taking short dives. Dyad was doing an interesting diving behavior where she would take a long dive, surface once, fluke and then come up a few seconds later, spending a little while at the surface. Hopefully she was finding a lot of food on those long dives. Female whales must store huge amounts of fat to cope with the energetic strain of pregnancy and nursing. Dyad, like any of the females we see this summer, could be preparing to breed or give birth on the wintering grounds in the coming months. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Tongs and calf

Nearby to Dyad we spotted two whales, likely a mother and calf, logging or resting at the surface. We managed to get a quick look at the end of the trip and identified Tongs and her 2014 calf. Tongs and calf were actually some of the very first whales that I saw this season back in April and that calf has grown! We also got an awesome look at a Mola mola or ocean sunfish, the largest boney fish species, on the way home due to the perfect flat water conditions.

Mola mola!

This afternoon on the 1:30 whale watch we headed out to the western edge of the bank and found Tongs and her calf. We had seen these two whales resting in the same area earlier in the day but it looked like rest time was coming to an end. Tongs would take longish dives but also hang just under the water only visible by her pectoral fins glowing green through our phytoplankton laden water.

Tong's calf rolling

The calf was definitely feeling playful and we got a lot of tail slashes and bubble blowing. Our favorite was when the calf did a lot of rolling, especially when it spent some time swimming upside down with it’s belly exposed. This position allows us to get photographs which can help to identify sex. Otherwise we’d have to wait a few years and see if this whale turns up with a baby. It was a beautiful day and the flat water conditions made it a wonderful day for whale watching.

— Tegan

***

Today on board the Asteria we headed out to the middle of Stellwagen Bank where we had many unique sightings. On our search for whales we spotted a loggerhead turtle! I had never seen a turtle on a whale watch so it was really exciting when we spotted this individual.

Blue shark!!

After this quick look, we spent some time with a lone female humpback named Dyad. Dyad was taking short 3 minute dives. While watching this whale, we had a surprise sighting of an awesome blue shark. It swam right alongside our starboard sight!

Tongs and her newest calf

After a while, we decided to move to a different area where other whales had been sighted earlier in the day. On our way to this new area, we spotted a giant mola mola or ocean sunfish! We finished up our trip with Tongs and her 2014 calf travelling very slowly at the surface. The calf stayed at the surface the entire time we watched this pair, while the mother took short, non-fluking dives every few minutes. It was a beautiful, flat-calm day with so many different species!!!


— Annie G.

***

Large finback, twice the length of a humpback!

On the 12pm whale watch aboard the Aurora today, Captain Jeff headed straight to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. When we first arrived – we found two different species! A large fin whale, and two familiar humpbacks – Northstar and Hippocampus. Though the fin whale was far, we could really see the difference in size- the fin whale is about twice the length of the humpback whales.
 

Blowholes

We spent our trip with Northstar and Hippocampus, who were traveling slowly at first. Then after a few surfacings, Hippocampus did a flipper flare underwater, Northstar trumpeted (i.e. made a loud-pitched exhalation), and then Hippocampus suddenly dove very deep.

Hippocampus and Northstar

This seemed to begin to prompt some different behaviors, because shortly after Hippocampus began flipper slapping at the surface! We watch this whale slap several times at the surface, and Northstar at one point rolled on his side and exposed one of his flippers (but didn’t slap – you can see it in the photo).

Hippocampus comes in close for a close-up

After that the pair began some subsurface feed, and near the end of the trip we began to see small ripples of bubbles popping up at the surface while the whales remained below. It was exciting to slowly see the anticipation building as a faint bubble net appeared near our boat, and then suddenly the two surfaced right next to us!

Northstar fluke

It wasn’t clear as to whether the whales were curious to the boat/our jet wash, or just happening to feed under our boat – but either way it was a great way to end our trip! Capt. Jeff even squeezed in a little more time for a few extra last looks of this exciting behavior.

Another great day on the water!

— Laura

On today’s 9am whale watch aboard the Cetacea, we headed out to Stellwagen Bank in search of whales – we first tried the western edge of midbank and didn’t find much, so we then headed to the NW corner to where some of our fellow whale watching boats were.

Flipper slapping: Note the barnacles on Hippocampus's flipper

Our morning started out with a bang as we found Hippocampus flipper slapping, with Northstar traveling alongside. Hippocampus was slapping on both its side and belly up for over half our trip! We don’t know exactly why humpbacks exhibit this behavior, but one hypothesis is that they may be trying to knock off the pesky barnacles attached to them (see photo of barnacles on the flipper). It also makes a lot of noise (which we could hear clearly on this calm day!), so it may also be a way to communicate – their flippers weigh about 1 ton, so they can make some loud smacks!

Hippocampus's belly button

As whales are mammals – they indeed have belly buttons too, as Hippocampus laid belly-up, we were able to this whale’s belly button. As you can see in the photo – it appears to be an “innie”! We wrapped up the trip with Northstar and Hippocampus beginning to rest (we call this behavior logging) at the surface.

Hippocampus belly up

On our 1:30 trip, we headed back to the NW corner to find the same pair – this time doing some subsurface feeding. The pair was taking 7 minute dives, and only spending about 1 minute at the surface before they would quickly dive back down.

Hippocampus at the surface

Hippocampus did surprise us with one quick tail breach, and then near the end of the trip we observed bubbles coming up to the surface as the whales were down, indicating that they might have been bubble feeding deep below the surface.

Hippocampus's high fluke

On our last look, Hippocampus made a quick forward surge with its flippers perpendicular to its body  – enabling the whale to lift its fluke high out of the water. Very interesting to see the dynamic of these two whales working together today!

— Laura

***

Today on board the Aurora for the 10am whale watch, we went to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. Once there we found our good ole’ friends Northstar and Hippocampus. They were taking slow, low fluking 5 minute dives. With just about 15 minutes left in the trip the whales changed their behavior drastically.

Hippocampus tail slap

Hippocampus began to repeatedly tail slap. Both of the whales were swimming back and forth underneath the boat, which made passengers squeal with excitement! Of course the captain had the boat clutched out when the whales were swimming so close to us.

Hippocampus underwater close to the boat

At one point, due to the position of the catwalk, we were unable to see the activity going on just feet off of our starboard side. Thanks to Captain Chip, for radioing in and giving us a play-by-play to inform us where the whales were so we could then share it with passengers. The starboard side was even surprised with an unexpected spy-hop during this chaos! Hippocampus then began to pectoral slap at the surface. All in all, it was a spectacular day on the bank.

Hippocampus flipper slap

For the 3pm trip, we returned back to the northwest and found our pair again. They were more subdued than our earlier trip, taking 6-8 minute dives and consistently fluking. Due to the longer dive time, we hypothesize that the whales were doing some deep feeding.

Hippocampus and Northstar, together again

— Hannah and Kira

***

A close approach by Hippocampus

On our 12pm whale watch our passengers, once again, had amazing looks of the curious humpbacks Hippocampus and Northstar. It continues to amaze me how close these whales approach the boat time after time. I found myself wishing I was out on the bow with our passengers who could practically reach out and touch Hippocampus instead of up top on the crow’s nest!

Northstar and Hippocampus

As we have seen throughout the past week and a half, this close duo stayed right by one another’s side throughout the entirety of our whale watch.

On our gorgeous sunset whale watch, we saw three different whales of three different species. Our first whale was an enormous fin whale that was absolutely beautiful. This finback travelled slowly and randomly around the southwest corner of the bank surfacing about every four minutes.

Gorgeous sunset

As we moved on in search of other species, we enjoyed watching the sun set and saw hundreds of shearwaters in small groups or rafts of resting birds. Each group had mixed species including Manx, Cory’s, Great and Sooty Shearwaters. After not long, we came across a small minke whale. Had the sea conditions not been glass calm, we would have never seen it! But luckily we were able to get some great looks of this small rorqual whale.

Dyad swimming into the sunset

A little further north, just south of the shipping lanes, a humpback whale named Dyad was swimming along all on its own. Our sunset tonight was particularly colorful and it provided the perfect backdrop to this peaceful humpback. We were super excited to see all three species of large whales on our spectacular sunset whale watch!

Solitary humpback

— Tasia

On our early morning 9am whale watch aboard the Asteria today, we went out to the northwest corner where we saw two sleepy humpback whales, Northstar and Hippocampus. While these two were quite mellow throughout our whale watch, they spent a LOT of time right next to our boat as we sat idle throughout most of our trip.

Hippocampus diving next to the boat

Northstar resting next to the boat, injuries as prevalent as always

Seeing as a handful of whale watching vessels were lining up to take a look at this duo, I would imagine most of the passengers watching across the water from other boats were quite jealous of the perspective our guests were given. Perhaps these leisurely whales were put at ease by the low humming of our environmentally friendly jet engines!

Breach!

This afternoon, we changed it up and travelled down to the southwest corner of the bank where we saw a trio of humpbacks: Jabiru, Pele and Eruption. These humpbacks spent a lot of time at the surface of the water making about three minute dives but were relatively lazy.

We were preparing to head towards Boston when SUDDENLY, there was a DOUBLE BREACH! Typically when you get lucky enough to see multiple whales breach, they will breach one after another or one may be landing when one is beginning its leap. These two whales choreographed their timing perfectly and appeared as behemoth ballerinas spinning out of the water! It was an incredible 3 seconds that I’d have to say was completely worth sitting through the ongoing downpour. These whales breached another four or five times putting on quite the show for our passengers! We waited hopefully for some more action until we realized that the show was over and it was time to head home.

It was a wet and wild day full of fun on Stellwagen Bank and I look forward to what tomorrow will bring!

— Tasia

***

Pele, Eruption and Jabiru

Although grey skies threatened over Stellwagen Bank we headed out towards the southwest corner for the 12 noon whale watch. Visibility remained good and we spotted three whales through the rain immediately upon arrival in the area. These whales turned out to be Jabiru, Eruption, and Pele, three whales that we’d been seeing a lot of about three weeks ago.

Synchronized dives

It was really exciting to see that these familiar flukes were back on the bank! The whales didn’t stay long at the surface but took short dives and didn’t travel a lot allowing our passengers to get some great looks and chances for some fun photos (as long as they braved the downpour). The whales made abrupt and forceful surfacing, had quick traveling and high fluking dives which made us think that they were searching for (and hopefully finding) some food in the area.

I have heard from one of the other naturalists that Pele may have showed evidence of this feeding in the way of copious defecation later in the day. It is always great when we get to see a variety of whales out on the bank and today was no exception. Despite the gloomy weather, it was a fin-tastic day for whale watching.

— Tegan and Haylee

***

Northstar close to the boat

This morning on board the Aurora we headed out to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. We spent most of our time with the dynamic duo: Northstar and Hippocampus! Throughout the trip they were mostly logging! Because of this, the whales spent lots of time at the surface. There were threats of rain today, but luckily it only sprinkled a little bit.

Jabiru, Pele and Eruption close to the boat

This afternoon, we decided to head to the SW corner of Stellwagen to see what other whales were in the area! The wind picked up quite a bit from this morning so it was a little more choppy! We were excited to see Jabiru, Eruption and Pele all traveling together!

Pele defecation — signs of a good meal!

The first time Pele went down for a dive, he left some evidence of feeding at the surface…that’s right folks, the whale pooped! These three whales were very closely-knit throughout the trip. They seemed to be very interested in the back of our boat for some reason, because they continued to surface right behind us. Throughout the trip they took mostly 3-4 minute dives and were likely doing some subsurface feeding.

Jabiru's fluke

It was great to see these three beautiful whales, especially when they would surface so close to the boat! This trip was even more exciting because a couple got engaged during the whale watch! Congratulations you two!

—Annie G.

This morning on board the Cetacea, we travelled out to the middle of Stellwagen Bank. After searching around for a while, we happened upon a minke whale! The seas were nice and calm, making it easy for us to spot this individual time and time again. It was great to have so many repeated looks at this whale. Once it even surfaced right between the pulpits!

A sleek minke whale

It is very seldom that we have the opportunity to spend some quality time with minke whales because they are usually so elusive. After watching the minke, we headed over to where other whale watch boats were watching a couple of humpbacks. They turned out to be Northstar and Hippocampus, of course. The pair was doing some very slow travel spending lots of time at the surface. Passengers were so excited when they finally had the chance to see their tails.

Hippocampus's fluke

This afternoon the seas picked up quite a bit along with the wind. We ended up searching around the shipping lane where we found our old friend Hancock!

Hancock

At first Hancock was taking 5-6 minute dives, traveling quite a distance in between surfacings. She consistently fluked, but we had a little trouble keeping track of her in the beginning. By the end of the trip though, Hancock began to bubble cloud feed and took much shorter dives in between each sighting. We were lucky enough by the end to get to see her bobbing up to the surface with massive mouthfuls of fish right in front of the boat!

— Annie G.

***

Today on the 10:00 whale watch we had a wonderful day out on the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.  We initially found the Cetacea, another BHC whale watching boat, with two humpbacks. They were nice enough to share and let our boat the Asteria come right up and start our whale watch. Our captain Deb helped us to get great close looks at Hippocampus and Northstar slowly traveling together.

Watching Cetacea watch the whales

We were able to really appreciate their whole body lengths under the clear water and we stared in awe as they slowly rose to the surface and took powerful exhales.

Hippocampus's head and a powerful breath

Northstar was traveling right with Hippocampus and was fluking readily, occasionally taking a low fluke where we couldn’t see the underside of his fluke.  We have been readily seeing this pair over the past week or so and Northstar seems to be looking alright since his injury.

Northstar's injuries

One minke whale quickly came to the surface as we were coming off the bank but no other blows were seen during the trip.  It was a great close and personal whale watch with Northstar and Hippocampus!

— Laura C.

***

Today on the Aurora for the noon whale watch we headed as ever out to the northwest corner in search of our usual suspects. We’d had reports of Northstar and Hippocampus but the best part of the noon whale watch is also the most challenging, no other whale watch boats around. It took a little hard looking but we soon found our whales taking 4-6 minute dives and moving around quite a lot.

Blow!

Humpback fluke

Humpback head

This pair seemed a little more interested in the boat today surfacing closer to us than usual and possible turning towards us as if curious about what we could possibly have been. Some humpbacks are known to be very curious of boats, but for the most part they tend to ignore us and carry on with feeding. This pair has been together for a week and we wonder how much longer we’ll see them, either as a pair or before they move on to the next area in search of food. With the way the season has been going, the whales will not be in short supply.

— Tegan and Haylee