Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

9/7/15

Log for September 7, 2015

Today on this summery day we headed out on the Cetacea with Captain Billy to Stellwagen Bank. We started our search close to where the Cetacea had left whales yesterday. We were soon able to spot a couple of spouts south of us and soon came across Twinkle and Komodo. These two whales were fluking and travelling around and were often joined by one of our unknown juveniles from this season. 


All three periodically came close to the boat and surprised us completely by surfacing with two completely different whales right off of our bow! Perhaps these two extra whales were the other pair in the area, Lutris and another unknown (this one with a T1/all white fluke) but we’re not sure! After spending most of our trip with these whales we made our way to another whale in the area who started to breach! 


We got a couple of looks at this whale before it took a dive and left us. On our way back in we were able to catch a glimpse of Air Force One stationed at Logan Airport while President Obama was in Boston!


On our 1pm trip we were joined by Annie G and again headed out to the bank. As we approached the Asteria was just finishing up their trip with Music, a familiar whale from this season. Music was flipper slapping and spent a couple of minutes doing so before becoming less active and hanging at the surface. Annie G had spotted another couple of spouts in the area so we decided to see what would happen if we made our way over there. At one point, we our unknown juvenile from earlier breaching off the starboard side and Komodo and our unknown T1 on the port side! The unknown juvenile continued to breach and flipper slap for the rest of trip which, of course, was exciting for passengers but also exciting for us! It was soon time for us to leave the bank but it was a great trip!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!


—Annie W and Annie G

Posted by NEAQ at 11:14 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

7/16/15

Log for July 16, 2015

This morning’s 10am whale watch turned around due to the rough seas and all passengers were given refunds. But by 2pm the seas had improved considerably so we headed out on board the Sanctuary with Captain Adam and crew. We headed out towards the southwest corner and quickly spotted some blows in the area. 


We spotted 10 humpback whales with many more in the distance. Among those that we have been able to identify were Aerospace, Music, Shuffleboard and her calf. Many of the whales were subsurface feeding but we were lucky to get some very close looks at Shuffleboard and an unidentified whale kick feeding and surface lunging right next to the boat. 


It was very exciting and well worth the trip out to the bank.

— Tegan

Posted by NEAQ at 9:16 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , ,

6/8/15

Log for June 8, 2015

We had an awesome trip this morning on the Asteria! Our first sighting was of a juvenile whale (Unknown 16). This smaller whale was travelling around randomly in the area, popping up for a breath or two every now and again. Eventually another larger humpback whale who we haven’t identified yet joined this juvenile. 



Suddenly another whale came into the mix and chin-slapped the surface with force and then breached into the wind right next to the boat! An electric shock was suddenly jolted into our whale watch! For the rest of the trip, we watched this whale lobtail repeatedly and flipper slap! 


Something especially unique about this whale was that the dorsal side of its pectoral flippers were black! Most of the whales in the North Atlantic have completely white flippers. Many of the whales in the North Pacific population, like the whales I’ve had the pleasure of watching in Maui, have counter-shaded flippers like this one. Another fun feature of this particular whale was that on the left side of the tail there is a unique marking that looks like a chain of islands. Either I have Hawaii on the brain, or this whale is destined to have a Hawaiian name!

— Annie

***

What a day we had out on the Cetacea! Our morning whale watch started off strong with lots of splashes in the distance, a sure sign of active whales! After a brief fin whale sighting, we followed the splashes to a duo of humpbacks, both of which I had never seen before. These surface active whales were Music and Vault. 


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.

Look at the white scratches along the bottom edge

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!

High flipper!

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

— Tasia
Posted by NEAQ at 5:17 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

7/30/14

2014 Sightings | July 30

This morning on board the Aurora, we travelled out to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank! There was lots of activity out there today! Throughout the trip, we got great looks at three pairs of adult humpbacks! The pairs included Alphorn and Music (both new sightings for this season), Scratch and Conflux and, of course Northstar and Hippocampus!

Music's fluke

It was great to see some new whales in the area! Throughout the trip, all the activity was concentrated within one square mile. The most exciting part of the trip was one of our last looks. Since the water was so calm, it was easy for us to spot every disturbance on the water so we saw the full extent of Northstar’s awesome bubble spiral ring right next to our boat!

Northstar surfacing

It was a great look, and everyone was so excited to see Northstar and Hippocampus coming up to the surface.

It was a beautiful morning with plenty of whales!

— Annie G.

***

Calm waters are just perfect for whale watching

Today we headed out to the northwest corner in beautiful weather conditions. Light winds and calm seas made for a beautiful opportunity to see a variety of marine life. On the corner we quickly spotted a pair of humpback whales. Northstar and Hippocampus—what are the chances?!

Scratch and Conflux

These two whales were engaged in some great bubble feeding activity however the animals were feeding below the surface and only surfacing in order to get a few breaths of air before their next foraging foray! We had spotted a few more blows on our way into the area so were very happy to have a pair of humpbacks, Scratch and Conflux, cross our bow and join very briefly with Northstar and Hippocampus.

A lonesome whale

Northstar headed off with the new pair and Hippocampus trailed behind. But never fear on the next surfacing Northstar and Hippocampus were once again back together. We also spotted another pair of humpbacks, bringing out total to 6 animals, a little ways off and were able to identify them as Alphorn and Music!

The birds were out in force and we saw gulls, shearwaters, juvenile gannets, and even a swallow all the way out to sea.

A Cory's shearwater

It was as ever, a beautiful day on Stellwagen Bank.

—Tegan

***

Today on board the Aurora for the 1:30 whale watch, we traveled to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank like our earlier trips had. Once there we found four scattered humpback whales.

Alphorn fluke

First we saw Alphorn traveling alone, but then quickly spotted Northstar and Hippocampus close by. The pair of Northstar and Hippocampus joined and split from Alphorn on multiple occasions. The group even surfaced in unison after we saw a large bubble cloud formed under the surface.

Alphorn

Northstar and Alphorn

Alphorn, as well as Northstar, has some large scars from past injuries. See attached photos of Alphorn’s left dorsal fin, fluke, and it swimming with Northstar. We also spotted another humpback about 1 mile away that turned out to be Music. All of the whales that were in the area were taking short dives, averaging about 3-6 minutes, as well as doing some high fluking dives.

— Hannah
Posted by NEAQ at 4:08 PM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)