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2008 Whale Sightings Reports:
May 15, 2008 (photographs as promised...)
The 2008 whale watching season was the third year in a row that we had a very large number of whales present on Stellwagen Bank for virtually the entire season (from April to October). On most days we had between 15 and 20 Humpback Whales on the northern end of Stellwagen Bank alone. Reports from whale watching boats out of Cape Cod indicated that an equal number of whales were present on the Bank's southern end as well. This means that, on most days, at least 30 to 40 Humpback Whales (sometimes many more) were in the area... and that's not to mention the smaller numbers of Finback and Minke Whales that were also present!
This amazing gathering of whales is no doubt due to the dense schools of American Sand Lance (a small, schooling fish that the whales in this area feed upon) that were also present on Stellwagen Bank. How many more years this extraordinarily high productivity will last nobody knows for sure, but s long as this area of the ocean remains clean and at least moderately undisturbed we can reason to expect years like 2008 (and 2006-2007) again.
Please take time to review our sightings reports from 2008. Each has many photographs taken during onboard our whale watching boat, the Privateer IV, and contains detailed information about the behavior we observed, the individual whales that we sighted, and other marine wildlife that we encountered this very special season. 2009 whale sightings reports begin in April!
"Tail-breaching" Humpback Whale Breaching Humpback Whale
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