Greetings Fluke Dukes,

The 2pm whale watch aboard the Cetacea brought our scientific minds into the wild Atlantic waters of the Southwest Corner.  Captain Bill was enthusiastic in his search for megafauna, and he laid claim to an elusive finback whale as the first sighting of the afternoon.   This turbulent titan partook in 4 minute dives of great distance, leaving us only with sparse photos that cannot summate the impressive velocities such a species can reach.  We soon grew restless in the mysticete marathon and opted to examine some blows further east across heavy seas.

We soon happened upon two humpback whales who were diving as a pair.  The smaller of two beasts revealed a fluke pattern recognized from the morning trip on the Cetacea, but unknown to us in the last season.  A third humpback in the area stirred excitement in my belly, as my last sighting of this curious character was nearly a month ago.  This chap has a dorsal fin that is unique for its scars, as the spacing and characteristics of the dentition marks suggests predation by orcas! 

The rough seas of Stellwagen Bank only spared few secrets today.  We will return again to gander at this battle-scarred humpback and its cetacean neighbors, in hopes of unfurling many a unique tale.

Peace and Love,

Rich Dolan

Coast Guard drill east of Boston Harbor. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist

Fluking dive from 15BH29. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist.

Unique dorsal of 15BH29. Rich Dolan, BHC naturalist