previous whale sightings reports:
May 15, 2008 (photographs as promised...)
JULY 19, 2008
total sightings from today's whale watches:
14 HUMPBACK WHALES, 10 FIN WHALES, 6 MINKE WHALES, 1 BASKING SHARK, and 1 HARBOR SEAL
A Humpback Whale calf Breaching
Many whales are still being sighted on Stellwagen
Bank just 12-14 miles from the entrance to Gloucester Harbor. On July 19,
2008 we sighted 14 HUMPBACK WHALES (with others in the area that we simply
did not have time to get too!), 10 FIN WHALES, 6 MINKE WHALES,
1 BASKING SHARK,
and 1 HARBOR SEAL. The highlight of the day was a mother and calf pair of
Humpback Whales (“Tornado” and calf) where the calf was seen breaching
repeatedly at the surface. This most acrobatic of all whale antics is a
spectacular yet unpredictable behavior. Normally we see breaching on
about 1 in every 5 whale watching trips, however because of the sheer
number of whales in the area this year we have been seeing more surface
activity, and with greater regularity than usual. While we can never
guarantee that any one particular behavior will be observed on a given
trip (remember, these animals are wild and endangered creatures!) it is
important to remember that whale watching is a nature trip…and like all
nature watching it often requires patience. But more often than not
patience is rewarded with close looks and often times spectacular sights.
This was certainly the case with today’s trip…
We started our whale watch on the northern edge of
Stellwagen Bank (the closest portion of the bank to Gloucester) where we
sighted our first mother and calf pair of Humpback Whales (“Tornado” and
calf). These whales afforded us great looks, but were resting at the
surface and out 
of
respect for the youngster we soon moved on in search for other whales.
While the whales do not exhibit and natural fear of the boat, there is
little doubt that resting whale may be “awoken” by having a boat approach
them too closely and like all growing babies the young whales need their
rest. Imagine if every time a toddler went to take a nap he/she was
awoken by a loud neighbor. This would not only make the youngster cranky,
but it is actually unhealthy. Sleep time is growth time for young people
and young whales… so that’s why we took a quick look at Tornado and Calf
then moved on. These are endangered animals and we are visiting them in
their environment and we always keep that in mind and show proper respect.
After leaving Tornado and calf we came across a pair
of Humpbacks,
both
of which were well-known to us…. “Fulcrum” and “Pele”. Fulcrum is an
adult female whale who was unfortunately hit by a ship a few years ago.
Her back and dorsal fin bear the scars of this accident (the spinning
propeller of the boat cut a series of slices into the whale).
Fortunately, the wounds have healed and Fulcrum is in no danger of
infection or any other ill-effects from this collision. In fact, she is
one of the most active Humpback Whales in the area! But on this day
Fulcrum and Pele were both taking long dives of 6 or more minutes. So
after a few looks at these whales we once again moved on….
At this point in the trip we traveled many miles to the southeast without seeing anything. Then we turned to the west and traveled many miles and still didn’t find anything. Finally we turned northwest and, as I described earlier about nature trips, our patience paid off….
We
ended up finding a feeding aggregation of 9-11 Humpback Whales.
Everywhere there where whales blowing huge bubble clouds around dense
schools of fish then lunging to the surface with mouths wide open sending
water and fish flying in all directions. This feeding behavior has been
very common this year and I have managed many great photos of feeding
whales over the past few months. For much more information (and photos)
on how these whale feed please visit my July 2nd update
here).
The greatest surprise of the day however occurred while we were watching the feeding whales we saw (just to the east) a small Humpback Whale come leaping out of the water. After heading over to that whale, hoping the activity would continue, we were happy to find that it was Tornado and calf! Throughout the afternoon they had made their way westward and were now no longer resting! Tornado began feeding with all of the other adult whales in the area while the calf repeatedly breached…sometimes just feet from the boat. While all this was happening along the port (left) side of the boat someone who (for some reason) was on the starboard (right) side of the boat shouted “Seal!”. We all rushed over to find a young Harbor Seal pup right next to the boat. We got some great looks at this other variety of marine mammal as it and the young Humpback Whale (Tornado’s calf) simultaneously circled the boat inspecting the awestruck people onboard.
Tornado's calf "spy-hopping" 
Harbor seal pup
So after a whale watching trip that began slow, and involved a lot of looking around, our patience and hard work paid-off with spectacular sightings. It will no doubt be one of those trips that we remember as a highlight of the 2008 season.
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN IN JULY 2008 FROM THE 7 SEAS WHALE WATCHING BOAT PRIVATEER IV
Some of the above photos were taken by our good friend Oktay Kaya. To see more of Oktay's beautiful whale photographs and other wildlife pictures he has taken please visit his site at http://www.whalesandwhales.com