whale sightings update June 5, 2009

Often times with whale watching (as with all nature watching) hard work is required to achieve the best sightings. That was certainly the case today. WE WERE THE ONLY WHALE WATCH BOAT FROM GLOUCESTER THAT SAW 25-30 WHALES.

Breaching Humpback Whale

There were 2 whales on the northern edge of Stellwagen Bank (“Nile” and her calf) but we received reports of MANY more whales feeding on the southwestern corner of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and, since the weather was nice and the seas were calm, we decided that it was in the best interest of our passengers to make the extra effort (and burn the extra fuel) to show them the BEST POSSIBLE SIGHTINGS that we could today. And we are VERY glad we did!

Humpback Whales

When we arrived on the Southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank we were surrounded by whales. Everywhere we looked we could see groups of 3, 4 and even 5 Humpback Whales surfacing. A group of 3 Fin Whales also cruised by at one point giving us great looks at this normally elusive species (the second largest animal on Earth by-the-way!)

Finback Whale

Many of the whales were feeding. We saw a group of 5 Humpback Whales using their characteristic “bubble netting” style of feeding where the encircle a school of fish in a huge ring of bubbles and then rise to the surface together consuming fish as they go.

Feeding Humpback Whale

Feeding Humpback Whale filmed from the Privateer IV

Another spectacular feeding display was put on by a well known male Humpback Whale called “Filament” who also happens to be the whale featured on the 7 Seas Whale Watch homepage! Filament has a unique way of feeding; he pound his tail tree times at the surface before blowing a cloud of bubbles around the fish and then lunging to the surface mouth wide open. So if you want to see EXACTLY what we saw Filament doing today watch the video on our homepage here!

Filament feeding

The Other Highlight of the trip was no doubt a full, spinning breach by an adult Humpback Whale called “Tornado.” I know not everyone on the boat got to see it… mostly because there were so many whales around some people were watching whales surfacing near other parts of the boat and thus weren’t looking in the right direction.

Filament feeding Filament feeding still

The whales were so abundant that I was having trouble identifying every individual as they came up all around us. When I got home, however, I uploaded my photos to my computer and had time to analyze them. Here is the list of individuals Humpback Whales I can say we positively saw today:

Canopy, Whisk, Tornado, Falcon, Filament, Reflection and her calf, Salt, Cardhu, Pogo, Fracture, Mural, Trident, Music, and Compass.

That’s 15 (!) different whales I was able to ID. I’m sure that I wasn’t able to ID half of the whales there so my estimate of 25-30 Humpback Whales in the area is a conservative one… there could have been (probably were) many more.

Now I realize that this number of whales is exceptional and no one could ever guarantee seeing 30+ whales on just one whale watch. Today was “one of those trips” that we will remember all summer long. But the point is you have to try EACH AND EVERY TIME! Sometimes weather conditions might now allow us to travel that far (27 miles we went today… but why have a fast boat if you don’t use the speed?) Sometimes the whales may be more spread out and thus seeing that number in just a few hours would be impossible. But we will ALWAYS do EVERYTHING in our power to show you as much on your whale watch as we possibly can… even if it costs us a little bit more time and fuel to so it. That is our commitment to our passengers.

Finback Whale

Like I said before, whale watching is nature watching! These are wild, endangered animals that are free to roam the oceans at will. If you want to have the best sightings you have to be willing to do the work.

A Humpback called "Reflection" lob-tailing

BIRD STUFF (I've been considering calling this segment of each update "bird crap" but I'm not sure people would get the pun.... do you?)

This week I found a pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows nesting under the wharf next to where our whale watch boat docks. These little guys fly REALLY fast as they glean insects from the water's surface so getting this photo of one was tough!

This handsome Laughing Gull was a nice addition to the great whale sightings.

And finally a pair of Cardinals has built a nest in a small shrub in my backyard! Here you can see the female incubating her recently laid eggs that are due to hatch by mid-June. It should be fun to watch them raise their chicks. More pictures of this growing family to come for sure so check back soon!

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All photos on this page were taken aboard the 7 Seas Whale Watch boat "Privateer IV"

Some of the BEST photographs on this site were taken aboard our whale watching trips 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