Good Afternoon Planeteers,

Today aboard the 10am expedition aboard the Aurora, we collaborated with Captain Jeff in locating our cetacean brethren on the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank.  The passengers were pleased to encounter calm seas and fantastic visibility.  We happened upon two groups of surface-active humpbacks who were proudly thrusting their flukes out of the water for us to photograph.  Their antics didn’t go unnoticed, as the SBNMS’s research vessel, the Auk, was in the immediate area, undoubtedly conducting exciting science!

The first group of humpback whales consisted of Jabiru, Perseid, Nile, and a smaller unknown whale.  They were taking short dives and presented whale enthusiasts with a bounty of great looks.  The second group of mystical mysticetes included Tornado, Milkweed, Owl, and Owl’s 2015 calf.  The vivacious calf championed fresh injuries from a probable entanglement.  Both groups kept to their own, but were generous to us throughout the entire trip.  As we reluctantly ventured from this whale-city, we took note of a fog cloud that held off until the very end.

These crazy eight made today a memorable experience for many, and we look forward to our next adventure.

Peace and Love,

Rich

Auk, NOAA research vessel. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist 

Thar she blows! Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Nile and Perseid fluking. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Entanglement injuries of Owl's 2014 calf. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Owl (right) and her calf (left). Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Crouching humans, hidden whale. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Good Evening Mammals,

This afternoon we returned to same region as we explored on our 9am trip on the Cetacea.  The sea conditions on the Southwest Corner came alive, and we were tasked with telling blows apart from whitecaps while our craft pitched and rolled like a rolling stone.  These elusive animals surfaced with brevity, only to have their shallow fluking dives cloaked in rough seas that obscured their fluke patterns.  We could also see a couple of humpback beasts breaching in the far distance. 

Passengers were rewarded for their perseverance with a great send-off by two humpbacks who made a beeline for our bow, only to swim single-file under our pulpits!  One of these whales had a T-3 fluke photographed earlier on our 9am trip, and as of now the answer to this whale’s identity is blowing in the wind.  An appropriate theme of intrigue for a whale watch on Bob Dylan’s birthday!  We estimate our sightings to be from 7-9 humpbacks, not including the numerous whale blows boiling from the distant seas along Provincetown.

Thank you for reading of our exploits and we hope you will partake in this fantastic holiday weather!

Peace and Love,

Rich & Laura Howes

Unknown fluke. Laura Howes, BHC lead naturalist

2nd sighted whale crossing bow. Laura Howes, BHC naturalist

1st sighted humpback diving. Laura Howes, BHC lead naturalist

Harbor seal. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Greetings Whale Whisperers,

For our 11AM trip aboard the Asteria, we joined Captain Deb in an enthusiastic search for whales on the Southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.  The skies remained clear as they had for the past several whale watches, but the 2-3’ swells cast upon us by the ocean tested the mettle of our passengers.  As we were within sight of Provincetown, we could see a smattering of several blows straddling the horizon!  We made our way towards what appeared to be a breaching humpback in the distance, but that activity was short-lived.  We instead found ourselves on two individual finback whales that came close to our vessel!  The enormity of these megafauna was realized as one of them crossed our bow.  The other cetacean began side-lunge feeding to our starboard, briefly revealing part of a rarely seen finback fluke!  Passengers were gifted glimpses of chevron patterns unique to finback whales. 

Once the “finners” travelled away from the vessel we ventured toward a pair of humpback whales who were slowly surface feeding!  Their behavior was evident by the green clouds boiling the water’s surface, coupled with the tips of their rostrums peeking out of the ocean.  Deb brought us to a third humpback whale who was kind enough to show us a beautiful fluke.  This whale is known to us all as Trance, a repeated sighting for the season.  We also caught a look of a somewhat small humpback travelling slowly on the surface, and witnessed a brief head-breach from another humpback whale!  As we returned to Boston, there were still many blows further out in the east.

On our 5pm trip, we accompanied Captain Tim on our second excursion to the Southwest corner.  Our return to “Whale City” was triumphant, as the vast number of blows from humpbacks caused a near sensory overload!  Initially we watched Rapier and her calf gracefully milling around the surface of a calm sea.  Then we happened upon a trio of whales, two of which were a mother and calf pair!  Jabiru valiantly escorted the mother and her new calf around the boat as the calf curiously rose its head up out of the water!  The calf was especially vocal, and Laura justly compared the trumpeting blow of the juvenile to the vocalization of a baby elephant!  We soon found ourselves on a lone humpback whale that was recognizable from a sighting earlier this week for its orca rake scars on its dorsal fin.  We discovered at this point in the trip that we were being followed by harbor seals and grey seals, and we felt that their interest in us rivaled our interest in the whales!  We also managed to sight several separate humpbacks in the distance and captured a photo of yet another fluke!  These mammalian sightings brought an exciting conclusion to the day, and we have high hopes for the days to come.

We hope for everyone to have a euphoric weekend, and we look forward to sharing more of our maritime missions!

Love and Peace,

Rich and Laura C

Rapier (back) and calf (front). Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist 

15BH16 fluking. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist