On today’s 10am trip aboard the Asteria, we headed to the SW corner in search of whales.

Nile's calf rolling

When we arrived, we first found Nile and calf, and saw some distant blows as well. We stayed at first with Nile and her calf- who were logging at the surface right next to our boat! Nile’s calf was one tired calf today. It spent a lot of time at our trip resting at the surface, while mom would occasionally come up and also log for a bit. Nile actually spent a lot of time hanging underwater just below her calf, which was very interesting to watch.

Nile's calf's fluke

After a while, Nile’s calf suddenly started rolling and flipper slapping (see photo), followed by a quick tail breach! After this Nile’s calf appeared to wake up, and while Nile appeared to be subsurface feeding, Nile’s calf got in a quick nursing bit. The pair then began to log again, and we decided to head to the blows in the distant.

Nile and her calf

We had great luck heading to the blows which turned out to be six more humpbacks! We found four adults and a calf – Eruption, Pele, Perseid, Milkweed, and her calf. Perseid’s calf however had strayed from the group – and instead came to check us out! Perseid’s calf was quite interested in us today – which included the calf blowing bubbles around our boat and even checking us out with a spy hop (see photo)!

Curious calf spyhopping

Milkweed’s calf to seemed to also follow suit with its independence, and for a while we had both calves milling at the surface while the adults fed. Pele and Eruption split from the two moms, and we ended the trip with a nice look of Perseid, Milkweed, & their calves (rejoined with their mothers) alongside the boat.  We also spotted a quick look of a fin whale on our way home.

Perseid and Milkweed and calf

— Laura

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On our afternoon trip aboard the Cetacea today, we set out for the southwest corner of the bank where the morning trip had had great success. As we slowly cruised up to the area, we spotted at least three different groups of humpback whales! As we began heading for the large group of what we believed to be six whales, two whales from another group began breaching!

Storm breaching

This duo breached about 10 times in the distance but became more subdued upon our arrival. We still had gorgeous looks of what turned out to be Pepper and Pele! This duo surfaced super close to the boat and gave us gorgeous views of their flukes with each dive.

Pepper's blow hole

We also saw Nile and her calf who appeared to be logging a few hundred yards away from us.

Milkweed and Perseids

Milkweed's calf

We then moved on to the larger group of six whales which consisted of Milkweed, Perseid and each of their calves plus Tear and Storm. Tear kept some distance from the others and spent most of his time resting at the surface while exhibiting occasional pectoral slapping.

Storm pectorals

The other five swam around pretty randomly potentially looking for some food. They approached our boat very closely crossing only a couple yards off our bow and stern a number of times. As our whale watch came to an end, Storm began pectoral slapping and putting on quite a show which ended with three huge breaches! It was an incredible trip that started and ended with a bang! It’s amazing how much activity we are still seeing out on the bank!

—Tasia

This morning on the 9am whale watch we headed out into some choppy seas towards the southern part of Stellwagen Bank. Despite the rough seas we had very good visibility and just off the western edge of the bank we spotted some blows. We approached the area and found three humpback whales.

Nile and her calf

They all seemed to be logging, just resting at the surface and occasionally making low non-fluking dives. It was pretty easy to identify Nile and her calf and while I had an inkling that the third whale was Storm, it wasn’t until the very end of the trip that this was confirmed when all three whales went down on a fluking dive.

Nile, action shot!

Nile's playful calf

Nile and calf have been consistently seen with other whales in the area over the past few days, whether just singles like Storm or larger groups (but these associations have been very loose). The pair have also been seen breaking off of the other groups to spend time resting and maybe some nursing, though I haven’t observed that behavior yet this summer. It was a great days to have a some very dramatic looks at these animals.

Pectoral flipper

On the 1:30 whale watch we headed out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank and luckily the seas had settled a tiny bit though we still had some big swells. Just north of the corner we found Nile and her calf for the second time today. This time however they were making much more active dives.

Mystery whale

They were then joined by a third whale which despite the fluke photograph I captured we haven’t managed to be able to identify. With this calf we saw a little bit more active behavior, some pectoral fin slapping and tail lobs. The group took a few more active dives before splitting up and Nile and calf spent some time resting at the surface. Once again it was fantastic to see these animals.

Cheers,
Tegan


***

Today on board the Salacia for the 10am whale watch, we traveled out to the southern portion of Stellwagen Bank to look for whales. When we arrived at the bank we quickly found 3 humpback whales. It was Storm, Nile, and her calf.

Storm, Nile, and her calf

As we approached this group, we noticed that the calf was ducking under the surface frequently while alternating sides of Nile. Most likely the calf was nursing! All three of the whales were taking short dives, just 1-3 minutes, both fluking and non-fluking. We spent the majority of the trip with this trio. At one point, Storm turned on its side and treated all the passengers to an amazing quick look at its long pectoral flipper.

With the remainder of our trip, we traveled over to another humpback in the area, but as soon as we got close the individual took a dive. Luckily we were able to get some photos of its dorsal fin to ID it. It was Jabiru. As we were waiting for Jabiru to resurface, we spotted 2 other blows less than a half-mile away so we went to investigate. It was Pele and Eruption! We had just enough time for one look at this duo before turning back to Boston.

I hope everyone has an excellent Labor Day Weekend!

— Hannah Pittore

***

On our 12pm whale watch aboard the Aurora, we spent time with humpback whales Jabiru and Storm just north of the southwest corner of the bank where they were slowly traveling south back towards the corner.

Humpback whale

The southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank is rich with food and a popular spot for whales to hang out throughout the feeding season. We had beautiful looks of both whales as they swam through the water making sounding dives each time they submerged themselves.



After some time with this duo, we moved on to Nile and calf who were logging nearby. As we slowly approached the mom and her calf, they appeared to wake up and dove right beneath the boat! There were more birds in the area than we’ve generally been seeing including sooty, great, and Cory’s shearwaters in addition to a couple juvenile northern gannets!

Lazing at the surface

— Tasia

This morning on the Asteria we headed out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank in search of whales. We had great conditions out on the water and we saw a couple different blows around us as we approached the bank. We started our trip with a quick close look at a Minke whale just off our bow, but we decided to investigate a whale in the distance that was making quite a bit of splashing.

Blackhole

Once we got closer we ID’d this whale as Blackhole. Blackhole was taking 3 minute dives and was bubble cloud feeding as well. Blackhole is a familiar whale out on Stellwagen, we sighted her earlier in the season but is a new sighting in the area in the past week. We then noticed some blows in the distance and decided to get closer looks at this group.

Pele and Eruption

Just as we were approaching the area where these whale had gone down on a dive, 3 whales popped up right off our bow and were swimming towards us! Passengers got amazing close looks as these whales swam beneath our boat. We were able to ID these 3 as humpbacks named Pele, Eruption, and Storm.

Pele and Storm

This group was probably feeding well below the surface, and were consistently surfacing as a trio. We’ve been sighting this group pretty consistently over the past few days usually with Nile and her calf nearby which may have been a pair of whales about a half a mile away! These whales haven’t been moving all that much over the past few days which will hopefully continue to the future.

Fluke

—Tegan, Kira and Lindsey

What a beautiful day it was on the bank! On board the Asteria for the 10am whale watch, we headed towards the southwest corner of the bank. Our trip started out with a surprise sighting of an ocean sunfish or Mola mola.

Mola mola, the largest bony fish in the sea

As we kept traveling toward the bank, we had another non-cetacean sighting. A little grey seal popped up at the surface, but quickly dove down.

Group of humpback whales swimming

When we arrived at the bank we found a large group of humpback whales. It was Nile, her 2014 calf, Pele, Eruption, and Storm! The group of 5 was fluking and taking short 3-4 minute dives.

Nile and her calf

The trio and Nile and her calf split once during the trip, but after 15 minutes or so they all joined together again for more feeding! The flat calm waters on the bank today made our sightings even better.

You can see the humpback's white flukes under the flat calm waters

— Hannah, Grace, and Jess

***

On today’s 12pm trip aboard the Aurora, we headed to the SW corner to find the group of 5 our 10am found – Eruption, Storm, Pele, Nile and her calf. At first the whales were separated, with Nile and her calf (see photo) traveling a short distance away from the trio – Pele, Storm, and Eruption.

Nile and her calf

At one point, all 5 whales joined up! This was a brief join before the group split up again, and Nile and her calf began to log while the trio were subsurface feeding. We saw lots of coordinated diving of this trio – including a synchronized dive of Storm and Eruption (see photo).

Synchronized dive by Eruption and Storm

What was interesting today  with the flat calm conditions we could see any disturbance in the water, and throughout the trip  we saw faint trails of bubbles while the whales were down on their dives – perhaps bubble feeding deep below the surface, or as our Captain Chip thought, maybe stirring up the gravel as they were bottom feeding along Stellwagen Bank.

The group crosses paths

On our last looks the trio passed by Nile and calf but did not join up again (see photo of the groups crossing paths), and we got wonderful close to boat looks of Storm (see photo of Storm’s fluke), Pele, and Eruption.

Storm's fluke

A wonderful day on the water!

— Laura

Today on our first trip of the day, the Cetacea traveled to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank in pursuit of whale sightings. Before reaching the edge of the bank, we found 5 scattered humpbacks.

Reflection

First we spent some time with our trustworthy friend, Orbit. Next we spent some time with Measles. Both were taking short dives and traveling. Next we spotted Dyad, another humpback whale.

Dyad

Dyad was exhibiting an odd dive pattern, it would surface, take a breath, fluke up dive, and then quickly resurface and repeat. We attributed this behavior to all the bait we saw close to the surface on the bait finder. Off in the distance we saw a fluking humpback, and were lucky enough to snap a picture of the individuals fluke. It was Isoceles, a type 5! We next went to ID our 5th humpback. As soon as the individual fluked, I knew immediately who it was.

Coral

It was Coral, a type 1! Even though today was the first day that we spotted Coral, I was very familiar with its unique fluke pattern because it is on the first page of the catalog. I was overjoyed with the sightings.

Mirror image: Reflection and her calf

On the 1:30 whale watch on board the Asteria, we traveled back towards the southwest corner of the bank. Upon arrival, we found 2 logging humpbacks. It was Reflection and her 2014 calf.

Reflection's newest calf

The pair spent almost the entire trip at the surface, which was great for passengers. We had lots of great looks, especially because of the beautiful weather and calm seas. The pair began to travel and did take one short dive, but were pretty calm otherwise.

Best,
Hannah

***

Today on board the Asteria we headed out to the Southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. We spotted a minke whale along the way, but decided to continue ahead to an area further east. We happened upon the Cetacea, the 9:00 whale watch, who was watching a male humpback named Coral!

Coral

Coral was taking long dives though, so we decided to travel to a different area to see what else we could find. After quite the search, we were able to double back and find a bunch of associated humpbacks! There was a group of 4 humpbacks that included Eruption, Storm, Octave and one unknown (no fluke). The passengers were excited to see this group traveling pretty close by. In the area there was a group of three, and a few other whales scattered around the area.

Storm

Eruption

It was a beautiful day out on the water! We are finally out of the fog!

Annie

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