This morning on board the Asteria for our 10am whale watch, Hippocampus and Northstar were very active! They spent lots of time diving and were very likely subsurface feeding.

Hippocampus and Northstar

Digital tags have shown that humpbacks pursue sand lance at depth by rubbing the sides of their bodies into the sandy sea floor of Stellwagen Bank forcing hundreds, even thousands of sand lance out of hiding and into the water column. These humpbacks are then able to capture mouthfuls of these tiny fish one after another.  While we can only speculate as to what this duo was actually doing beneath the ocean’s surface, something was keeping them down and it was most likely their lunch!

Northstar's injury update

For those of you who are looking for an update on Northstar’s recent injury, here is a close up from today of the wound on the right side of his back which appears to be healing well. From the looks of it, the wound area is receding as healthy tissue grows forward. As long as we see Northstar regularly, we will continue to provide as much information as we can about the progress of this healing process!

— Tasia

***

Today on the Aurora for the 12 pm whale watch, we travelled out to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. The beautiful sunny weather, light wind, and calm seas gave us wonderful conditions for searching for whales. It always amazes me that we head out to these areas and are able to spot whales so easily.

Northstar's fluke

We quickly spotted two exhalations in the distance that turned out to be our dynamic duo, Hippocampus and Northstar! We haven’t seen much apparent feeding behavior from these two humpbacks over the past week but their erratic dive times and pattern of travel looked like they were searching for food. We did spot a bubble cloud which hopefully means that searching has been fruitful. Passengers really enjoyed seeing this unique feeding behavior!

Throughout the whale watch, we passed an abundance of boat traffic, including a large LNG ship, a tuna boat, the Massachusetts Environmental Police, many recreational boats, and the Auk, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary’s research vessel. As ever this made us mindful that Stellwagen Bank is a shared environment and it’s important to balance all of its diverse and important uses in management and sustainable future.

—Tegan & Kirsten

***

A large finback whale

This morning we headed out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen. We decided to travel south to switch things up and it sure paid off! Upon reaching the edge of the bank we found a fast moving finback whale who was taking nice short dives of 2-3 minutes. This individual was a particularly large finback.

Nile's fluke

When the finwhale was down on a dive, we continued spotting and found 2 logging humpbacks in the distance. We travelled their way to investigate and we found Nile and her 2014 calf! Throughout the last 15 minutes of our trip, Nile and her calf stayed resting at the surface. Just as we were wrapping-up, the pair took a dive, exposing Nile’s beautiful type 4 fluke!

A waterfall streaming off Nile's fluke

We thought our trip had ended, but on our way back to Boston, maybe 20 minutes off the bank, we saw 2 MORE humpbacks! Luckily we were at the right angle for a photo and were able ID them as Tongs and her 2014 calf.

Dyad

This afternoon, we headed out once again to the SW corner of Stellwagen Bank. We had nearly perfect whale sighting conditions with glassy, flat-calm seas with sunny warm temperatures. After a few minutes of searching on the bank, we easily spotted a whale in the distance. It turned out to be a female humpback whale named Dyad! She was taking 2-4 minute dives and consistently fluking.

Dyad

We even saw evidence of some bubble cloud feeding later in the trip. A few times, Dyad would fluke as though she was taking a deep dive, and then would pop up moments later at the surface. It was a beautiful day for a whale watch with a beautiful whale to boot.

— Hannah & Annie G.

Today on board the Cetacea for the 9am whale watch, we traveled to the northwest corner. We did some searching and came across one single humpback whale. This individual was traveling quickly and taking long 8 minute dives. It never fluked for us, but after talking with the 10am whale watch, we positively identified the individual to be Rapier. Next we traveled over to check out a pair of humpbacks in the area. It was Northstar and Hippocampus. The pair was moving slowly and taking short non-fluking dives.

Our ol' friend Hippocampus

On the 1:30 trip, we went back to the northwest corner. The wind started to pick up which made searching a little tougher. After a couple minutes of scanning, we found Northstar and Hippocampus again. The pair was doing some longer dives, ranging from 6-11 minutes and doing both fluking and non-fluking dives.

Bait fish rippling on the surface

While the whales were down on a dive, we saw a large bait ball at the surface. The whales were probably taking some longer dives to feed on all the prey in the area.

— Hannah

***

On today’s 10am whale watch about the Asteria, we headed towards the bank, first arriving on the western edge along mid-bank to find female humpback Rapier. Rapier was traveling in the area and not fluking much, but she did grace us with one look at her tail.

Rapier's fluke

She gets the name Rapier because of the line on her left fluke that resembles the French term “Rapier,” a thin, sharp-pointed sword that was used for thrusting in swordfights.

A cloud of morning whale breath—yummy!

We then left Rapier and headed to the NW corner to find our pair of the month, Northstar and Hippocampus. At first these two were traveling slowly and doing some subsurface feeding. We also got “snarged” by Hippocampus – everyone on the bow and second deck felt the wet smelly breath, including our captain Joe!

As time started wrapping up for our final looks, Hippocampus stole the show by making some powerful repeated inverse tail breaches! It was fun to see how Hippocampus was making its own “tidal wave” each time it surfaced – its flippers would be outstretched to the sides as the tail came up. Hippocampus also display some upside-down lobtails and tailslaps too before we left! It was an exciting end to the trip, and a beautiful day on the water.

— Laura

***

Hippocampus splash

We had our two regulars out and about today on the bank, Hippocampus and Northstar! After feeding quite a bit yesterday, this duo spent most of today’s trip logging. Hippocampus was active a few times and even gave us three separate tail breaches which was very exciting for passengers! I captured literally the tail end of one of these breaches which was mostly just a huge splash!

Northstar on the mend

As Northstar injuries heal, we will continue to document it’s progress! Take a look at these photos of the wound which appears to be healing well!

— Tasia

Today aboard the Asteria for the 10AM whale watch, we travelled up to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. Despite the rain and fog we experienced while boarding, the skies cleared up as we headed toward the bank, and it turned out to be a beautiful day on the water!

Exhale

Out of the haze we spotted the Cetacea, which was watching two humpback whales. This pair turned out to be Northstar and Hippocampus. These whales were consistently taking 4 and a half minute dives, giving passengers great looks at their flukes and of Northstar’s injured dorsal.

Northstar's fin on the mend

While these whales were taking synchronized dives, they sometimes surfaced apart from one another, but continually rejoined as a pair. We still do not fully understand the social behaviors of these whales and their seemingly fluid associations. Northstar and Hippocampus have been traveling and feeding together since last Thursday and are an example of the longer term associations we do commonly see here on the feeding ground.

Lady Maryland

As an added bonus for the day the very pretty sailing vessel the Lady Maryland passed us in the mist while we watched our pair of whales.

It turned out to be a phenomenal day to be out on the water!

— Tegan, Kira and Kirsten


***

On today’s 12pm whale watch aboard the Aurora, our Captain Chip led us to the NW corner of Stellwagen in search of whales. Despite the many whitecaps – we were able to spot the blows of several whales today!

Note the chevron pattern on this fin whale

We first found a pair of traveling fin whales, and observed their two different chevron patterns on their right side. They also varied in length – the whale trailing behind the first fin whale was quite large! These markings are used to identify unique individuals in the population, as part of the North Atlantic Fin Whale Catalog held up in Allied Whale in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Northstar's dorsal injury continues to heal

We then moved on to find two adult humpbacks – Northstar and Hippocampus, who were traveling slowly though the area. We observed Northstar’s dorsal injury – it is great to be able to keep seeing this male humpback in order to track the progression of how this wound is healing. We send photos of any whales that are injured or appear unhealthy to the Center for Coastal Studies, based in Provincetown, Mass.

Ready for their close-up

Hippocampus's fluke

On our last looks of this pair, these two approached our boat to give us an up-close and personal look! We also spotted a Minke whale, making it a three species day!

— Laura

This morning on board the Cetacea we headed out to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. At the beginning of our trip, we spent some time with Northstar and Hippocampus who were traveling ever so slowly together. The anticipation to see the see these whales fluke was intense because they were spending quite a bit of time breathing at the surface and would take very shallow dives without fluking. Once the whales finally showed us their tails, the passengers showed their excitement!

Hippocampus breach

After watching these two for a while, we moved over to another couple of whales in the area. It turned out to be Perseid and calf! These two were traveling very quickly compared to the first two whales we were watching. In fact, we watched them for a half hour and during that time they traveled a few miles! Captain Gene reported to me that we were traveling alongside them matching their speed at about 3.5 knots. They were definitely doing some linear traveling south southeast of the northwest corner. We’ll have to see where this pair is spotted next!

Hippocampus fluke

This afternoon we traveled out the Northwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank once again. The weather was not quite as pleasant on our way out because of the rain. In the rain and fog, we were able to find a few whale watch boats who were watching Northstar and Hippocampus.

Northstar breach

After a couple of looks, we decided to travel around the area to see if there were any other whales nearby. We searched for a while in the rain. Some of our very dedicated passengers stayed outside with ponchos to endure the cold rain in hopes of sightings. We came up short on our search, so we travelled back to finish our whale watch with the original pair, and boy were we lucky to see them again! The rain finally cleared up and after just a few minutes of watching this pair, both of them breached consecutively right between our boat and the Miss Cape Anne!

Hippocampus flipper slapping

For the rest of the trip, Hippocampus was very surface-active and continued to flipper-slap and breach! We had some truly amazing looks at these whales today!

Have a great evening!

— Annie G.

***

On the 10am trip aboard the Aurora, we headed to the NW corner to where our 9am trip had been – and found our dynamic duo Northstar and Hippocampus working together to bubble net feed. We also spotted a minke whale in the mix today, as well as wilson’s storm petrels, sooty & great shearwaters, and laughing gulls near the end of the trip.

Northstar and Hippocampus

Male humpback Northstar and unknown gender Hippocampus were coordinating their movements to corral the fish under the water (see photo of synchronized surfacing). Near the end of the morning’s trip, these two began to get a bit more active at the surface, and Northstar began to flipper slap and roll along his side at the two surfaced with food in their mouth (see photo).

Feeding

For our afternoon 3pm trip, we headed back to the same area, and luckily managed to avoid the rain! We arrived to find Northstar and Hippocampus tailbreaching in the distance, and then Hippocampus displayed some excellent flipper slapping!

Hippocampus flipper slap

This whale even surprised us with a quick half-breach.

Hippocampus breach

Afterwards this pair began taking longer dives and subsurfacely feed. Hippocampus made some high flukes, and we also observed Northstar’s recent injury near his dorsal fin.

Hippocampus' fluke

Northstar shows off the injury to its dorsal fin

— Laura

***

Today on board the Asteria for 12pm whale watch, we traveled to the northwest corner in the pouring rain but didn’t have much luck there. So we kept searching along the western edge of the bank and finally found a lone humpback just north of mid-bank. The individual’s long 6-8 minutes dives, allowed us to identify the animal. It was Abrasion! This is the first time we’ve seen her this season.

Aprasion's fluke

On the 5:30 trip, the rain clouds parted for some much deserved sunshine as we left Boston. We went back to the northwest corner again. Almost immediately, we spotted a mother and calf pair. It was Nile and her 2014 calf!

Nile's playful calf belly-up

The calf was being very “playful” at the surface. Time and time again it rolled around at the surface, slapping its flippers and throwing its tail out of the water.

Nile's calf's fluke

Passengers were even treated to a full breach from the calf. On multiple occasions Nile even got involved and showed the calf how a real tail lob was done. It was a great evening trip.

— Hannah and Rich