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October 23 2011
The humpback whales were closer to Gloucester today and they were very active.  We approached two different sets of whales.  They were both in communication by breaching and pec slapping.  These were Sloop, and Owl and Kilter.  This went on for a while until Sloop swam away.  Owl and Kilter then proceeded with huge open mouth feeding and a few lunges.  It was a perfectly glass calm day on Jeffreys Ledge and an awesome way to spent an October day.
 

October 22, 2011
   We took the Hurricane II north today to see what was up on Jeffreys Ledge.  We found a few blows at first but couldn’t find the whales they belonged to.  We decided not to spend too much time on deep diving whales so we decided to go check out the few blows we had seen on the horizon.  Suddenly, we were in the middle of about 20 whales.  It was a grab bag of species including fin whales and humpback whales.  Some of the humpbacks we saw were Komodo, Solas, Gavel, and Zelle.  Zelle was born to Salt last season and the first time we have seen this individual this year.

October 8 2011
The Hurricane II had a great trip on Stellwagen Bank today.  We started the trip by seeing three gray seals before we even left the harbor.  The humpback whales weren’t too much further.  There were three whales swimming in association.  Two of these individuals were huge females, Salt and Rattan, and they were accompanied by a smaller whale that never fluked.  There was also a minke whale in the area.  We got some great looks at a huge mola mola and right before we left to head home we saw a large group of blue fin tuna tearing through some bait fish. 

October 7, 2011

            After a few days of poor weather, we were fortunate enough to find a variety of marine life on our morning trip. The Hurricane II journeyed over to the northern tip of Stellwagen Bank were we first stopped on a small pod of harbor porpoises, a rare treat for our New England waters. There was also a minke whale traveling in the same area. We found 3 humpback whales soon after. Salt and Rattan were swimming in association and taking short dives and the third humpback was logging at the surface. This was also the first time Rattan was spotted this season by our boat. Even as we near the end of whale watching season, we’re still happily surprised by the whales!

September 28 2011
                The humpbacks were found close to Gloucester today.  At least two juveniles were doing some surface behaviors such as breaching and tail breaching today.  One of them was a whale named snowslide.  We also saw a lot of open mouth feeding!

9.13.2011
                The humpback whales are still feeding right outside of Gloucester.  We found a few in the area today, but spent most of our time with a whale named Clamp because it was surfacing often and close by the boat.  We also got some great looks at another named Mogul, and a juvie.  The best part of the day today though had to be the Atlantic White Sided Dolphins since it has been a little while since we have last seen them.  They were swimming in a pod of about 150+!

9.5.2011
                We started the day by watching a humpback whale named Mogul feeding amongst some minke whales.  In the afternoon we found Mogul again but decided to do a little scouting and found 3 more young humpback whales feeding in cooperation.  These were Condensation, Komodo, and Geometry.  They started feeding using bubble nets but then it started to get chaotic with the whales surfacing every few minutes immediately next to the boat!

8.25.2011
The humpbacks have moved closer to Gloucester.  We found Jabiru, a well-known Humpback, further north on Stellwagen Bank today.   Jabiru has been spotted earlier in the season on the southern corner but apparently has found some food as it was seen feeding today!  We got some close looks and even a couple of tail breaches right next to the boat from thiss whale.  There were also a few other humpback whales in the area that seemed to be taking advantage of the same bait that Jabiru was feeding on. 

8.21.2011
The day started off on Stellwagen with a humpback mother named Bolide swimming beside her calf and another adult named Infinity.  They were doing some slow travelling so we decided to get some looks at a larger association when all of a sudden, one of the adults burst from the water!  Very impressive.  Eventually we did go check out the large association to find the same whales that have been in association off and on since last summer!  This was Cajun, Pele, and Milkweed (the three constants) and they were swimming with Aerospace and Belly.  We also got a rare close to boat minke whale.  Some of the others out there were Swallowtail (a new humpback for us this season!) and Ivee’s 08 calf.  The afternoon brought a little more wind but a lot of surface activity as well.  We saw breaching, tail breaches, and lobtailling. 

8.19.2011
On the way south today we passed by a fin whale on the bank.  There was a huge feeding frenzy of humpback whales on the southern corner of Stellwagen.  The whales were pretty close to each other but mostly feeding solitarily.  The humpbacks were utilizing the kick feeding technique to corral the sand lance.  Some of the individuals seen in the area were Salt, Milkweed, Tracer, Walrus, and Fracture.  
The afternoon brought two associations. One was Milkweed, Cajun, and Pele, and the other was Hancock and Pumba.  The two groups were staying near the area and actually seemed to occasionally associate into one large group then quickly disassociate.  Ganesh and her calf were also out there. 

8/16/2011
What an AMAZING DAY!
We had so many whales. There was a large group of humpbacks using a bubble net to feed. There were at least 6-8 whales coming up in the middle and then moving away from each other. They would reconvene in a row almost, move to another location and again, blow a large bubble net. Quite impressive. Along with that, the birds were incredible--laughing gulls, 100's of shearwaters, all kinds, and 100's of petrels. Literally more birds that we have seen lately. Oh, and quite a few gannets with at least 1 mature one. To top it off, after about 45 minutes of intense feeding, three adult whales breached one after the other. Then...nothing. It seemed like the breaches were an exclamation point on the feeding. It was fascinating to see that--something new for me. I love that after 17 years!!! Cajun, Pumba, Ganesh and calf, Tracer, Canopy, and Reflection were a few of the whales we had today! Love my job!

8/13/2011
                Although the feeding behavior and surface activity on Stellwagen Bank seems to never end, every trip is always a little different.  The variance in behaviors in activities always catches us by surprise day after day.  This morning we got down there and the whales seemed lazy and sleepy which afforded us great looks at the entire body due to glass calm sea conditions.  We watched two logging (sleeping) whales for a while when suddenly one went from logging into a full body breach!  Then the second whale followed suit.  Seeing one double breach is so incredibly lucky and the passengers got to see two of them on the morning trip alone!  One of these humpback whales was named Arsenal and the other was I-Vee’s 2008 calf.  In the afternoon, the feeding frenzy had started up again with kick feeding, bubble nets, and lunge feeding in every direction, right next to the boat.  The captain hardly had to move the boat at all because the whales were surrounding us.  We also had two blue shark sightings today!

August 8 2011
     The feeding on Stellwagen Bank has continued through the weekend.  Once we get to the southern corner, the whales have been surrounding the boat with feeding behaviors.  Some individuals such as Etch-A-Sketch seem to prefer kick feeding, while some of the females such as Salt and Cajun are coordinating into large bubble nets.  We have also been hearing some strange sounds from the whales in these large associations. 

7.27.2011
It seemed that most of the humpback whales were enjoying the glass calm conditions and getting some rest when we first arrived on the southern corner.  We came across a mom and calf pair who were logging for a few minutes until the mother awoke, rolled on her side and continued pec slapping for about 40 minutes.  Off in the distance there were two other humpbacks, including Salt, responding with their own pec slaps.  When we were just turning to slowly make our way back north, we came across a minke whale that breached at least 12 times! 

7.24.2011
The feeding on Stellwagen Bank this morning was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  It started off with two humpbacks, Abrasion and Centipede, who were charging towards some whales in the distance.  We followed them until the
whales all met in the middle and started feeding in groups as large as ten individuals!  The perfectly synchronized feeding within the bubble nets made for some of the best viewing this season.  Some of the whales taking part were Salt, Etch-A-Sketch (a grandcalf of Salt), Putter, Rocker, Epee, Dracula, and Infinity.  We also saw minke whales, fin whales, and Atlantic white sided dolphins feeding amongst the humpbacks. 

7/23/2011
In the morning we travelled down to southern Stellwagen where we found some humpback whales scattered through the area.  Liner 08 calf was in association with another who were swimming close to the boat occasionally turning toward us to get some closer looks.  In the afternoon the whales were feeding again.  We had Etch-a-Sketch kick feeding on the starboard side and Thumper on the port side.  The sand eels could be seen at the surface.  Once the feeding stopped we got some last looks on a small basking shark that was feeding on the plankton at the surface.  

7/22/2011
It didn’t matter where you were on the boat today because the whales were everywhere!  The humpbacks were feeding in large associations of 5 or 6 individuals.  Salt, one of the most famous humpback whales, was seen feeding with Tectonic, Coral, Circuit, and Echo.  We saw tail breaches, kick feeding, large bubble nets, and pec slapping.  We also found a large basking shark feeding at the surface.

7.16.2011
                We had a crazy day down on Stellwagen today.  On both trips today it seemed that the humpbacks were at least equally as curious about us as we were about them.  We literally did not engage the engines for over 50 minutes today while Greenbean and Condensation swam from one side to the other, front and back. 
A few times Greenbean even rolled on its side and started throwing water on the passengers with its tail!  A third humpback named Exclaim tried to get in on the action for a little while but the three were all bumping into each other near the boat so Exclaim took off.  While those three stole the show, there were many other whales close by too.  We got looks at Buckshot and one of her offspring, Ampersand, who was born in 1986.  Off a little further we saw Cajun and Circuit.  The afternoon trip was pretty similar but this time it Pivot and another individual who were doing all the close to boat activity.  We finished the day on Venom and her playful calf doing some pec slapping.  It was definitely a memorable day!

7/14/11
We have been heading south to Stellwagen Bank this week and the humpbacks have been feeding!  We have been seeing over 20 humpbacks all within a few miles.  Splashing from the surface activity from pec slapping to kick feeding can be seen all the way to the horizon.  A few familiar whales have been spotted including Etch-A-Sketch who always puts on an exciting show while it kick feeds.  A few other whales in the area include Lariat, Habanero, Ember, Sloop (who was seen on Jeffreys Ledge less than a week ago!) and Echo.  Most of the activity is so close to the boat that we can sit in one spot for the entire trip and watch the activity happening in all directions.

7/5/11
What an amazing trip we had today! We started off with seeing two fin whales unusually close to shore. So, we stayed on them for a little while and then continued north.  We went a little over 20 miles out today. When we got up to Jeffreys Ledge, before we knew it we were surrounded by whales. We saw two mom and calf pairs. One mom was Mudskipper and the other was Sabot. We even saw one of the calves breach! We also saw a few other humpbacks. Nile, Diablo, and Sloop were all there! They were blowing bubbles and doing a lot of feeding beneath the surface. They were also very curious and came close to the boat a few times, so everyone could get a really good look at them.  Fin whales were also out and about lunge feeding at the surface! It was amazing to see! There were also some Minke whales in the area feeding. A lot of birds were taking advantage of all the fish in the area, too. Just when we decided to start heading back to the harbor, we were soon stopped by a pod of Atlantic White Sided Dolphins. They were playing around the boat for a little while, doing some bow riding! And, if that wasn’t enough we also saw a small basking shark! What a great way to wrap up an awesome day!!

6/29/2011

6/18/11
Cape Ann has had a great week whale watching on Jeffreys Ledge.  The whales have been really close to Gloucester harbor which makes for short travel time and more time observing the wildlife.  Today we went about 12 miles north when we saw a few blows.  We approached the first humpback whale which was identified as Sedge.  We have seen Sedge a few times this week.  Sedge was all over the place today doing some deep feeding.  Immediately after it would surface, a cloud of bubbles would appear behind it.  It wasn’t holding one particular course and was moving pretty quickly so we decided to investigate on some splashing we saw in the area.  We came across a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins which engaged with the boat for at least about 20 minutes.  We also got a great look at an enormous fin whale as well as a minke whale that was also in the area.

6/7/11
                Cape Ann Whale Watch had a phenomenal day up on Jeffreys Ledge today.  The beautiful weather and calm seas made for great visibility.  About 20 miles north we saw a strange movement on the surface so we approached closer to investigate. 
A gray seal that had a live cod in its mouth.  The boat hushed as we watched this seal make a quick meal of the struggling fish.  After it was done feeding, it dove so we carried on to our second marine mammal of the day.  This was a large fin whale that was doing some quick travelling and deep diving so we got a few good looks before the captain noticed some blows further off on the horizon.  We approached to find about four humpback whales that were scattered around the area.  One was identified as Sloop. Another was identified as Tulip.  Whenever Tulip seemed to surface, a cloud of bubbles would rise behind her, so we decided to keep an eye on her and good thing we did!  All of a sudden the sea was alive with small fish that turned the glass calm water into huge patches of splashing. 
It turns out that the fish were feeding on large balls of krill!  It isn’t too often that we get krill in this area and when you can see them from the boat is always a treat.  We deployed our plankton tow and were able to get a few of these huge krill on board for passenger viewing.  Tulip was also very interested in the activity at the surface and began to lunge feed right next to the boat.  We got some awesome looks at the baleen in her mouth and the ventral pleats on her underside.  A minke whale in the area took notice of the feeding and decided to get in on the action.  Once it seemed that Tulip had finished feeding we moved on.  We quickly came across an enormous 25 foot basking shark.  This fish turned and swam along the length of the boat within feet of the hull.  The shark was too close to get picture of the entire body.  We ended the trip on another humpback that seemed to be doing some travelling.  This is the kind of trip that keeps the passengers, the crew, and the captain coming back out every day. 

June 6 2011
                We went up to Jeffreys Ledge today and came across a fin whale less than twenty miles away.  The fin whale was taking long dives and covering some water within the time so we decided to head just a little further north. 
It wasn’t far away when we came across a humpback whale named Hornbill.  Hornbill is a whale that was first seen in 1977!  Hornbill was also taking long dives so we got some good looks before carrying on to some exhalations on the horizon.  There were three humpbacks in this area.  One was swimming by itself, but the other two turned out to be a mom and calf pair!  This whale was identified was Sabot and this was her fourth recorded calf.  The calf looked large and healthy, and even managed to lift its fluke up a couple times before diving.  

Saturday May 14th 2011
                The Hurricane II left out of Gloucester Harbor at 1:30pm.  It was a cold day, but the sea conditions were nice for whale watching.  The captain spotted some harbor porpoise a few miles off of Rockport.  We didn’t spend much time though because there were some exhalations seen up ahead.  We spotted a fin whale that was moving pretty quickly and not spending much time at the surface, when up ahead, the captain spotted a fluke!  We approached to find two humpback whales swimming in association.  They were taking short dives (around 4 minutes) and changing direction pretty constantly.  When the whales would surface, we noticed a cloud of bubbles rising to the surface about 100 yards behind them. There was definitely bait in the area, indicated by the numerous northern Gannets that were dive bombing the water.  At one point, the two whales became curious of our presence, turned 90 degrees toward the boat and approached within about 50 yards before diving.  One of the whales (a humpback identified as Vee) gave 3 consecutive tail breaches, followed by a large fluke up dive.  The other humpback in the association was identified as Obsidian. 

May 8 2011
Today we went out just 10 miles and found a few finbacks feeding. One mother and calf pair. (below)

October 11 2010
Today we had lots of whales around. Mostly all humpbacks. Plenty to look at for this time of the year.

October 9 2010
We again had to only go out about 10-12 miles. There we had 2 humpbacks feeding just down from the surface. Lots of close looks. We spent well over an hour on the whales today dispite the cool and windy temperatures.

September 24 2010        
                We only had to go a few miles north to Jeffreys Ledge for a memorable whale watch today.  We started the trip watching a fin whale that was doing some feeding.  Suddenly there would be a huge flash of green appear under the water next to the boat as the whale was lunging with its ventral pleats expanded.  We got some great looks when we decided we would take a little ride and see what else we could find.  Only a short distance off, we found three blows.  As we were approaching, we identified these three as enormous humpbacks.  They were whales named Trident, Fan, and Spoon.  All three of these are older females.  Spoon is the largest Humpback in the population measuring around 52 feet.  All three of these whales were doing a feeding technique where they come up from below and bring their heads up out of the water.  You could see the water pouring through the baleen and out of their massive jaws.  There was a different fin whale that had then come into the area.  We had been watching the feeding going on for quite a while when out of nowhere one of the humpbacks burst from the water with a huge chin breach!  The activity didn’t stop there.  The feeding continued, but in between we also got to see a tail breach and then a full body breach from Spoon! 

September 18, 2010
Lots of whales today. The sei whales were feeding most of the trip. 4-6 humpbacks, 4-6 finbacks. Trips have been around 4 hours or so.
                All week we have been going north to Jeffreys Ledge and east to Tillies Bank and the diversity of life we’ve seen up there has made for some really memorable trips.  We have seen different humpbacks every day including some older individuals like Trident and Patches, as well as some younger whales such as Chickadee and Abrasion’s calf from last year.  There has been a lot of bait there and the whales have been feeding for most of the week.  They dive for a few minutes, surface in the same spot for some great looks before diving again to get more food.   
                Amongst the humpback whales have also been many fin whales, a few minkes, blue fin tuna, two ocean sunfish (Mola mola) and quite a few sei whales.  Sei whales are not usually found in this area, as they spend most of their feeding season much further off the coast, so just getting to see one was really spectacular.  During the trip today we got a special treat in watching a sei whale that was lunge feeding right beneath the surface!  The water was glass calm and full of red krill.  The whale would slowly turn on its side, we could see it open its enormous jaws and swim through the krill with ventral pleats expanded.  We were able to get some krill in our plankton tow so that the passengers could see how tiny these creatures are that the whale were feeding on. 

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