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Welcome to our Naturalist Page!
Check back here for new
updates on the sightings!
5-13-2010 video
in HD
Onboard Education!
(video kids)
Note; It not always how
many whales you see on a trip,
Its Quality!
Whale behavior!
Quickest time spent traveling to and from the whales.
We try to put this all together for the best trip possible.
This season the whales have been 25-30 miles out. Come onboard the areas Fastest whale watch boat and save traveling time.
Our trips have been averaging only about 4.5 hours
with about 1 hour with the whales.
Please read this great story about Judith and Spoon the whale.
Video taken on 8-31-10
August 29, 2010
When we arrived at Stellwagen Bank this morning, we were happy to see that there were still over 20 humpbacks in the area. We spent our morning watching three different associations that were swimming all around the boat. We saw many pairs of moms today with their calves including Citation, Columbia, Firefly, Perseid, and Cajun. Of course, Cajun and her calf were not alone but as usual were in association with Pele and Milkweed amongst others including Lariat, Aerospace and Ventisca. We got to see each one of these whales up close as they swam up to the boat and at the last minute dove under and came up on the other side. We didn’t stay on one group for too long since there were so many more whales in the area. We also picked up Music, Fracture, and Tracer. At one point, we had a calf that kept swimming from port side to starboard side and back again. You can’t ask for better whale watching then that!
August 19 2010
As a naturalist, today was a really special day for me, and the passengers had fun too! This morning we started our trip on a gray seal that couldn’t have cared less that we were there. It was just floating at the surface with its head above the water. It was glass calm out there today so we could see the entire body. It was still floating at the surface when we took off. We continued a little further south and found two humpback whales in association. It was Pepper and Scratch slowly travelling.
In the afternoon, we decided to head north and started the trip right off the bat with a 25 ft basking shark. Again, it was so glass calm that you could see the entire thing. Slowly swimming right below the surface, we got some extremely close looks before it dove down.
 The trip didn’t stop there. We then found a blue shark and got some quick looks at it. An ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) was also swimming really close to the boat. We got some amazing looks at two fin whales that came up right next to our boat with their pleats expanded! Then we saw some splashes out a little further topped off by tiny blows. With some investigation, we were identified this as a pod of Pilot whales! They were swimming quickly, but we got some really awesome looks at their enormous bulbous heads. These whales are rarely in this area so seeing pilot whales (not to mention all of the other sea life!) made this a phenomenal day aboard the Hurricane II!
August 14, 2010
There was a lot of life down on Stellwagen Bank today. There were at least twenty humpback whales feeding today amongst about 10 minke whales, hundreds of birds, and we even saw two huge basking sharks! The ocean was green with bubbles from all of the kick feeding humpbacks in the area. The sand lance (the fish specie that the whales feed on) were surrounding the boat at the surface in huge numbers. We got amazing looks at the whales entire bodies as they kicked the surface with their flukes, slapped the surface with their chins, and strained the salt water through their baleen. We were able to identify 14 of the humpbacks including Geometry, Etch-A-Sketch, Draco, Pepper, Epee, Lariat, Apex, Wizard, Fracture and Abrasion. Since there were so many whales in the area we heard many trumpet blows (a sound they make when they constrict their blow holes), and even observed one whale thrashing its tail from side to side. It was truly amazing.
Aug 11th –both trips!
FEEDING FRENZY ON STELLWAGEN!! I am still in awe of the sights we saw today on Stellwagen bank. It was truly an amazing day! It was perfect weather, perfect seas and spectacular whales. First of all there were the humpbacks-more humpbacks than I have ever seen together in one area. There had to be 35 to 40 of them out there! All of them feeding right at the surface. Wherever you looked there were humpbacks displaying all types of feeding techniques-kick feeding (slapping their tails on the surface of the water to stun the small sand lances they were feeding on), chin slapping (slamming their chins on the surface to stun the fish) blowing bubble clouds and bubble rings (whales blow bubbles using them as tools to corral the tiny fish), dragging (keeping their heads above the water to allow the pressure of the sea to help drain the massive amounts of water they engulf with each mouthful). .
Humpback whale named Tunguska feeding really close to our boat. You can see one lucky sand lance on the left, who escaped Tunguska’s massive jaws, as well as the baleen they use for filtering these small fish hanging down from his upper jaw. After this photo was taken, Tunguska continued to feed right next to our boat-slamming his massive 15 foot tail on the surface of the water-splashing the passengers on the lower deck.
So many of our favorite Gulf of Maine humpbacks were out there today: Cardhu, Wizard, Sloop, Habenero, Apex, Venom, Columbia and her calf, Firefly and her calf, and the grand old matriarch of the Gulf of Maine-Salt and her new calf named Zelle.
Fluke of Salt-the first whale in our population to be given a name.
As if this weren’t enough, we had at least a dozen Minke whales, Finback whales, and pods of Atlantic White Sided Dolphins also feeding in the same area. It was just the best day ever- I just can’t wait to get out there tomorrow!
August 8 2010
The whales were jumping on Stellwagen Bank today! We started our morning trip on a slowly travelling humpback named Habenero. We got some good looks but decided to move on a little further south where we picked up an association of 7 humpbacks. In the association were Cajun and her calf. The calf breached about 12 times while we were down there.  In the afternoon we made our way back to where that group was last seen. The wind had picked up a little and there were about 20 humpbacks down off the southern part of Stellwagen Bank. We started off on an association of 3 humpbacks named Pepper, Pele, and Jabiru. Then moved onto 2 whales named Geometry and Anvil who were both breaching and pectoral slapping! We stayed in the area when suddenly Geometry came up with a full body breach right next to our boat! Once these two had settled down to some travelling we got our last looks on a few humpbacks swimming by themselves. One was Jet and the other was Sloop. It didn’t matter where you stood on the boat today because everywhere you looked, you got to see some breaching or pectoral slapping going on somewhere in the area.
August 7 2010
There were a lot of whales on Stellwagen today. We started our trip, not far from Gloucester, on a breaching humpback named Apex. Apex was swimming in an association with another individual. Soon after the breaching stop, Apex rolled on its side and began to slap its pectoral fins on the surface. Once we left Apex, we headed further south to pick up Midnight and her calf. The action didn’t stop there. The calf threw a couple of tail breaches only to be showed up shortly after by a tail breach by Midnight! The calf then floated up to the surface with his belly up  and did a lob tail.
In the afternoon we headed back down south and picked up a few different groups of at least 4 or more humpbacks each. Amongst them were Cajun and her Calf, Milkweed, Pepper, Jabiru, and Alphorn. The whales were all around the boat. The adults seemed to be doing some deep feeding while the calf waited patiently at the surface. We got awesome looks at many different individuals before making our way back to Gloucester Harbor.
July 30 2010
Great day for whale watching down on Stellwagen Bank today! We saw an association on 7 humpback whales all swimming very closely. All 7 whales (including the calf) fluked beautifully  many times so we were easily able to identify them. The association consisted of Pele, Milkweed, Alphorn, Cajun and her calf, Jabiru, and Ventisca. Once they went on their dive we decided to check out a single humpback in the area who threw itself out of the water with a nice full body breach just as we were arriving. It followed this up with a chin breach.
In the afternoon we returned to the same area but this time the behaviors were very different. We had four different humpbacks from the morning, including a whale named Etch-A-Sketch, doing some feeding. We got a great look at a bubble net, as well as some kick feeding and  dragging as well. We had one whale that did some kick feeding right off the port side, it dove down, blew some bubbles, then came up so close to the boat we were staring straight into its mouth! It was incredible. With a powerful kick of its tail it went back down to the depths to get more bait. You can just never know what to expect out there
July 21
What a treat for me to get to see Ladder today! He's one of my favorite fin whales. (Probably because he's so easy to identify and he's the first one that I really payed close attention to.) For years, he was one of the first fin whales that I would see in a season. He was always with another whale too. Because they are solitary animals, I always thought it was odd that he was in association every time I saw him. I don't have an answer for that...like most things, the more you observe, the more questions you have. We also had about 5 humpbacks in the area as well as 3-4 finners. The humpbacks were feeding deeper in the water column, coming up with their mouths full of water. The type of feeding style has been referred to as krill feeding. I'm not sure whether they are feeding on krill or amphipods (both types of zooplankton). 
One treat the past two days has been training the interns to call a trip. I manage 5 full time interns and at least 5 volunteers who staff our education program on the boat in a week. (4-5 on the boat each trip--more than we have had in the past few years). Part of the internship is training to be a naturalist. Interns first start getting comfortable on the PA with the harbor tour. Then they call a trip, and finally do the docktalk. We are in the phase of the internship where they begin to talk on the PA while we are watching whales, or call a trip. Two of the interns have done that in the last two days and have amazed me with their abilities to not only talk smoothly on the PA, but interpret what is going on with the whales. It's been such a treat to see them able to take all that they have learned about the whales and teaching, and put it to use in a formal way! Way to go Jen and Walker.
After 17 years, it's the little things that happen during the trips that make some days stand out more than others. Seeing Ladder and being proud of our interns and the education that we do on the boat was it for me today!!! Thanks for coming with us!! Cynde
July 9 2010
It started off with pea soup fog but that didn’t stop us from finding a humpback named Firefly and her calf. The calf was very curious and swam up to check out the boat and as it did the fog lifted to reveal about four more humpbacks in the area. The calf continued to follow the boat, rolling its body, and showing us an inquisitive eye.
Firefly's 2010 calf approaches the Hurricane II
In the afternoon the captain spotted some splashing on the horizon. As we approached, we found a full grown humpback, named Ember, breaching. After about fifteen breaches, Ember came to the surface, rolled on its back and showed us it’s beautifully patterned pectoral fins and awesome white ventral pleats. We could have stayed there all day and Ember showed no sign of stopping!
July 4, 2010
Happy Independence Day from Cape Ann Whale Watch! It was a beautiful day out on the water today. It didn’t take long before we found our first group of whales. It was a group of five humpbacks that were feeding on a dense patch of bait down in the water. They would all rush up to the surface after taking short dives. We moved to another group of five humpbacks that were doing the same thing except there was a calf in the second group. A whale named Entropy was feeding while her young calf swam along side. We got some awesome looks at a tail breach from one of the whales. We also got some really close looks at a few fin whales.
Entropy's calf
June 27, 2010
Today we went to Jefferys Ledge and found lots of finback whales feeding along with 2 humpbacks. We located them just 11 miles from the harbor. The humpbacks on Stellwagen are over 30 miles out. Which means a very long boat ride to and from there location.
Lunging finback. Top of photo shows baleen, bottom shows ventral pleats.
Mouth closing. Note the eye.
Ventral pleats expanded.
Ventral pleats after water is expelled.
June 24, 2010
It appears that Cajun and her calf have decided to stay with the large group. There were seven humpbacks swimming in close association today! Cajun’s calf decided to throw a few tail breaches while the adults dove for short periods of time. Amongst Cajun and her calf today were Nile, Milkweed, Pele, Alphorn, and Perseid. Each whale gave us amazing looks at their fluke as they dove one by one. Just when we were about to head back to port, the group wanted one last close look and swam incredibly close to the boat leaving the passengers with a blast of whale breath! It was a really incredible trip!
June 20, 2010
Happy Father’s Day from Cape Ann Whale Watch! We had some great trips today with many whales and dolphins. As the wind picked up this afternoon, so did the whales. We saw the familiar splash of a breach from the distance. As we got closer we found mother humpback, Cajun and her playful calf. Calf seemed to have put a little distance between itself and mom as it breached continuously. We followed the calf over to Cajun who was swimming in association with five other humpbacks! These huge whales were all swimming side by side. We got some awesome looks when they all surfaced on the waves in unison. The calf showed little interest in the other whales and seemed content by continuing to hurl its entire body out of the waves. We also got some awesome looks when the five adults and the calf gave some high flukes as they sank deeper into the water.
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