This won’t be as long a post as the title might have you think. While I have indeed been out on 6 trips now, the first four were not terribly newsworthy.

My season kicked off, as it often does, in Provincetown over Memorial Day Weekend. I did three trips over as many days with the Dolphin Fleet. While whale activity had been pretty good in the month leading up, a big nor’easter off the coast a bit before the weekend seemed to have moved much of the activity quite a ways off shore. We also had a fair bit of fog that weekend which made things a little challenging. Notable sighting of the weekend was Bayou, the 2006 calf of Trident. Bayou now sports a damaged right fluke from a propellor injury, making it an easy fluke to ID. I saw Bayou as a calf but didn’t know until this trip about the injury.

Next trip, July 1, on Yankee Fleet out of Gloucester. We went north to Jeffreys Ledge where there had been reports of a fair amount of activity. We didn’t find any of that on this day, and spent time with some fin whales instead. While they tend to be notoriously hard to watch because they move quickly and don’t ‘do’ as much at the surface, we did get some good looks.

Things finally got exciting on July 16. I did two trips out of Gloucester that day, the first on Cape Ann Whale Watch (with naturalists from Ocean Alliance) thanks to a Groupon and the second on Capt Bill and Sons (naturalists from the Whale Center of New England). The big action is down off Provincetown right now, so that’s where both trips went. True to form for whale watching, each trip was quite different while also being quite good.

In the morning on Cape Ann WW, we spent most of our trip with a couple of  juvenile humpbacks who pretty much mugged the boat. We were unable to move for about 45 minutes because they were hanging out right under the back end of the boat. Not that we minded – we were getting great looks! Got my first close up photo of a whale’s eye (too bad the eye was closed) and Greenbean, one of the juvies, made a point of splashing the boat with its flukes from only about 20-30 feet away, if that.

Later that same day on Captain Bill’s, we returned to the SE corner of Stellwagen. Didn’t see any of the same whales from the morning, but we did have some active adults, including Echo and Tectonic traveling togeher. They seem to be one of Stellwagen’s great enduring ‘friendships’, coming together often over the years like Salt and Cardhu are known to do. Leah, the naturalist, reported that National Geographic had worked with the Whale Center to attach a critter cam to Echo and the resulting footage showed her and Tectonic (a male) working very well together under water in their hunt for food. Echo treated us to a breach too, which I managed to catch (even if distantly).  Other whales we found on this trip included Pele, Alphorn, Jabiru and Sloop.

Photos coming soon, I promise, as well as another post about a trip on 3 August.

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After a nearly 3 month gap since my last whale watch, I was downright itching to go out again and finally made it on Oct. 5. Following the Whale Center and Capt Bill and Sons on Twitter all summer, with numerous updates about spectacular whale watching, just whetted the appetite all the more.

So with reports of great end of season whale watching, I took my mom and two family friends out for their first whale watch, and a friend out for his second. And we got a lesson in the reality that we are indeed entering the natural, wild habitat of the whales and nothing is ever a sure thing. We DID see some whales, specifically Evolution, Ravine, and Lavalier and her calf. But aside from the calf’s giving us one playful belly roll, all were basically just travelling along and not being very surface-active. Just proves that each trip is different, and one never knows what will be seen. We travelled fairly far south along Stellwagen Bank, and the visibility was so spectacular that we could see Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument on the horizon. We just didn’t find a lot of whale activity.

Any day on the water is a good day. Any day with whales is even better! I’ve been spoiled by several spectacular whale watches this season so this was a little bit of a let down, especially as a first trip for some of my group. I am hoping to get out at least one more time before the season wraps up, and hopefully there will be some more activity to see. If not, I will just anxiously wait for next year!

Check out the photos – there are not many, but it was a beautiful day for shooting!

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When I signed up for Twitter a few months ago (username whalegeek, surprise surprise), I had no idea how useful it would be.  I get web design links, news links, whale/ocean/environmental links and more.  And then I started to follow the Whale Center.  And they post about the whale watching trips every day.  Since my last trip out was mostly about the fog, the reports of multiple sightings and multiple forms of activity since that trip was just too much… Makes it tough to live 2-2.5 hours from various points of departure for whale watching.

And so I went off to take whale watch #7.  Was happy to be joined by a friend who had never been out before, and the weather report was really very favorable.  And it was, above the water.  The water itself was quite choppy, making for an interesting ride out (better than a carnival ride).  This time, though, no fog, so the visibility was much better.  The other “hitch” to the day was that most of the activity happening on Stellwagen Bank was happening to the south, so off we went for a 2 hour ride down (usually it’s just about 1 hour from Gloucester to find activity), far enough that Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument could be clearly seen on the horizon.

Our first whale encounter of the day turned out to be a mother and calf pair, Nile with her 4th calf.  In the distance, we could see them breaching in turn, but once we got closer, they had settled down a bit.  The activity had become more of  what was possibly a teaching moment, with Nile demonstrating how to tail slap and lob tail.  We were close enough to really get a sense of how large Nile, as an adult humpback, is.  It’s hard in photos to appreciate their size, but with one’s own eyes, it takes on a whole new dimension.  After a few minutes of this activity, both whales settled and the calf started nursing.   Continue Reading »

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Went out for whale watch #6 today from Gloucester, on Capt. Bill and Sons with the Whale Center of New England. The weather here in New England has been decidedly unexciting lately, with more rain than anything else. On shore today, though, it was beautiful with sunny skies and some clouds – but not those of the threatening variety – and it was looking like we would have a nice trip. I had organized a group of friends and friends of friends from Camp Camp, and was really hoping to get a good trip in. Continue Reading »

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As my time on the Cape was drawing to a close for this Provincetown visit, I could not resist going out on one more whale watch.  At 10 AM, I boarded the Dolphin 8.  It was another gorgeously sunny day, but a little breezier than the day before so the waters were a little choppy again.  Being the day after the long weekend, the boat was also not terribly crowded.  Shaping up to be another grand day on the water.

Fin whale expert John Conlon was our naturalist today.  One of the best things about whale watching from Provincetown is that all of the naturalists have many seasons behind them and are very familiar with the terrain, the ecosystems, and the animals within them.  It makes a big difference, IMNSHO, to have that experience couching the experience of the whale watch.

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Today I went out on whale watch #3 for the weekend. Again, I found myself on the Dolphin Fleet‘s Portuguese Princess, which was just fine. It was a beautiful day: sunny, little breeze, almost no clouds in the sky. So, everyone else seemed to want to go out, too, and the boat was fairly crowded.

Luckily, this was another one of those “I don’t know where to look!” watches where there was activity happening in virtually every direction. Our first “stop” was with some whales which were swimming somewhat casually. There were very few deeper dives so few looks at any flukes. The exception to this was one whale which kept rolling over and flipper slapping. Because of the bright sunlight, visibility was a little deeper into the water column than previously this weekend, so we could see a lot more just below the surface. Even though there were two other whales associated with the flipper slapper, that one was the only one really doing much more than just swimming. In the general vicinity there were other blows, so all told we had about 6 whales in the area. One was quickly identified as being Ventiska, thanks to her distinct dorsal.

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That pretty much sums up today’s whale watch. Went out again from Provincetown on the Dolphin Fleet‘s Portuguese Princess. Weather was a little nicer. Still cool with a breeze but the sun came out while we were on Stellwagen Bank, no rain! Better weather also meant a more crowded boat. According to the naturalist, Mark Gilmore, there were around 200 people on board a 350-capacity boat. That was plenty crowded for me!

Our trip today took us a little farther away from shore as Race Point was out of sight. But once we found whales, it was rather like hitting the jackpot! We found Ventiska again, hanging out with a mother and calf. We got good looks at them, and could see several other spouts in the vicinity, though the whales at this spot were not being especially active at the surface.

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I am in Provincetown, MA for my annual Memorial Day Weekend getaway. When here, I squeeze in as many whale watches as I can manage, and I kicked that off today. Went on the Dolphin Fleet‘s Portuguese Princess at 10 AM. Because it was cool and overcast, the boat was not very crowded which is a very nice treat. It still got a little competitive at the rails, but not nearly as much as it could have been were it a sunny and warm day.

The peril of a first in the day whale watch is the challenge of finding where the whales went overnight. We did not have any problem finding whales today. In fact, we found them so quickly that we were not even far off the Cape. The buildings at Race Point Light were easily visible throughout the trip. Our first sighting opportunity landed us amidst 10-12 humpback whales, including at least 2 cow/calf pairs, doing very active surface feeding. We saw some kick feeding and some great open mouth lunge feeding with wide open looks. Not yet eating solid food, we saw some breaching from one of the calves, too. They seem to know how to entertain themselves while mom is busy feeding. After this tremendous “show” for about half an hour, the bait fish seemed to have dispersed because the whales quieted right down. We could still see numerous spouts around, but the dramatic surface activity was much less.

We searched for some more whales and got quick looks at a few. Much to my delight, one of these whales was Salt! She may be the grande dame of Stellwagen Bank, but in my 50+ trips out, this is the very first time I had seen her. She was travelling with Cardhu but again they were being sort of quiet, just hanging out at the surface. We never even got a look at Salt’s flukes (good thing she has that distinctive dorsal fin!).

All told, we had about 19-21 humpback whales today and one distant look at a fin whale travelling through. Named whales ID’d during the trip included Salt, Cardhu, Lavaliere, Ventiska, and Ganesh. I am already eagerly looking forward to my next trip out. Since I am still shooting film, I won’t have photos to put up for a couple of days, but will do so as soon as I have them.

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The good thing about whale watching in April is yay! whale watching season has started again! The tricky thing about whale watching in April is that it is early in the season and there is not as much happening out on Stellwagen Bank as would be later on. Still, thanks to the kindness of a friend, we went out on the New England Aquarium‘s Voyager III.

Being on a Monday with school still in session, the boat was refreshingly not crowded. It was also a little chilly out on the water, but we were mostly prepared for that. There were a few people on the boat in shorts and without jackets, so I think they mostly stayed in one of the cabins.

Since there was still a very high density of right whales in Cape Cod Bay, the boat headed more to the north end of Stellwagen Bank in order to give the right whales some space. And again, since it was early in the season, there weren’t a lot of other whales around yet. Caught a passing look at a fin whale. Some minkes popped up around us as well. Our best look at a humpback was courtesy of Giraffe. She seemed to be doing some just below the surface feeding as we did get to see a bubble cloud. Got a couple of good looks at the flukes, too. There was another humpback whale in the distance but we didn’t close enough for a solid ID.

As usual, any whale watch where a whale is seen is a good day. But, I am also looking forward to more trips, hopefully, through the season as more humpbacks return to Stellwagen Bank.

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It takes so little to twist my arm for yet one more whale watch… in the week following the last one, I got an email from a friend about wanting to go out sometime. After the trip on the 5th was so good, I couldn’t resist thinking about getting out again this season. That someone else wanted to go as well was all the impetus I needed!

So, we met in Gloucester on a sunny and gorgeous day. We did not see an especially large number of whales, not the 15+ from the week before, but with different behaviors. We spent about 45 minutes watching Jabiru flipper slapping. According to the Whale Center naturalists on board, this was a protracted display; they don’t usually carry on for this long. Did make for some nice photography!

We eventually left Jabiru because some breaching could be seen off in the distance, and who doesn’t like to see that? As we got closer, the breaching fell off, but we found ourselves amongst Tornado and Owl and their calves. The moms were apparently doing some feeding while the calves swam around. Owl gave us some good views of the deep scarring on her body, left over from a bad entanglement. It’s testament to the both the resilience of these animals to recover and the dangers they face in their own waters because of human activity.

This was a terrific whale watch to have to end my own season. I didn’t out as much as I had hoped, but did better that I thought I might. In this summer of screamingly high fuel prices, a 2.5 hour drive each way on top of the increased whale watch cost due to fuel makes for a fairly expensive trip. Every single one was worth it, and I already cannot wait for the 2009 season to begin.

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