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I had to do another update today because, once again, things have changed dramatically on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Where as 2 days ago we had very good trip with 3 Humpback whales, today we a very good trip with at least 20 Humpbacks in nearly the exact same spot! We spent time with 15 different Humpbacks and there were at least five others in the area that we didn’t get to visit before we ran out of time and had to head for home (we were 31 miles from Gloucester after all). This trip started off kind of strange in that our visibility was limited to only a few miles but not because of fog or rain. It was because of the smoke from the fires all the way up in Quebec! Thankfully the wind changed directions during the afternoon from the north to the southeast and so the smoke gradually cleared, and that made it much easier to spot the whales. The first group of Humpback whales we saw were a mother and calf pair traveling with a third whale, or what is called an “escort”, whale. The mother was a whale called “Persied” and the escort was a whale called “Pitcher”. Persied’s calf was very active. We stayed with this group for about 20 minutes and the little calf tail-breached, flipper-slapped, rolled over on its back, and crossed back-and-forth beneath our boat the whole time. Persied herself even tail-breached one time, giving us a good size comparison between and adult and her calf. CUSTOMER COMMENT FROM TODAY’S TRIP: “If I ever come back to Massachusetts this will be the first thing I want to do” -Abigail Eventually we decided to leave this group of whales because we could see a large group of whales just a bit further to the south. We ended stopping first on a pair of Humpbacks, one of which was “Nile” who is one of my favorites whales in the Gulf of Maine population. As we were watching Nile and associate (we never did get an ID on this whale) a group of 3 Humpbacks surfaced very close to us, startling our naturalist Jodi which was pretty funny, and so we decided to just stay with these whales. It turned out to be “Cajun” and calf traveling with an escort whale called “Milkweed”. These whales were gradually getting closer to what we thought might be a third mother/calf/escort group, but as we would find out it was actually 5 whales... 2 more mother and calf pairs and another adult whale. KID’S COMMENT FROM TODAY’S TRIP: “Whales are chubby” -Adam The grand finale of the day was when, at the very end of our trip, Cajun and her calf along with Milkweed joined together with the other group making a total of 8 humpbacks whales together! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen 3 mother/calf pairs together before. Our final look was when the group surfaced right along our port (left) side and, after each whale spouted a few times, of all 8 of them dove and one by one lifted their tails out of the water. Everyone just watched in silence and when the last whale dove everyone onboard clapped their hands in applause. It was a really cool moment. CUSTOMER COMMENT FROM TODAY’S TRIP: “It was a great experience. You guys run a fantastic operation.” -Joseph So, just as a disclaimer, this trip shows how quickly things can change. While we had a great trip on 3 Humpback whales two days ago, today we had a great trip on 15 (with more in the area). We CANNOT promise that you will see 15+ whales on each trip, and it does NOT take 15 whales to have a wonderful experience on the water. So please keep in mind the nature of the trip. But anything is possible, and today’s trip showed that very well. Please check back soon for another update! Jay Frontierro 7 Seas Whale Watch

MAY 31, 2010

LATEST SIGHTINGS :

DATE May 31, 2010

location  Stellwagen Bank (31 miles from Gloucester)

WHALES 15-20 Humpback Whales

BIRDS 7 Northern Gannets, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers

Recent Photos taken aboard the PRIVATEER IV :

WHALE SIGHTINGS   May 31, 2010

~ a site by S. Jay Frontierro with photographs by Oktay Kaya

Humpback Whale Calf Breaching  (photo from May 29, 2010)

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Humpback Whale Calf Tail-breaching

Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale Diving

Humpback Whale Calf