AUGUST 12, 2010

7 Seas Whale Watch Our Vessel Whale Sightings Home Photos

What a week... in more ways than you could imagine.

Whale watching this week has been great. We have had to travel a long distance to find whales, but has always been well worth the trip. As many as 30 Humpback whales have been seen nearly everyday for the past two weeks... today there were likely 50+ Humpbacks out there. This is a very unusually high number of whales to have in the area and no one can say for certain how long these sightings will continue. That being said, it seems as if more whales move into the area every day. If this trend continues we could be in store for some of the best whale watching ever over the coming weeks. Then again the whales may disperse unexpectedly. Again, no one can say for sure. But if you have the opportunity to go whales watching, or have been considering going whale whale watching now is the time to do it.

With this whale sightings update I want to do two different things:

Share with you some of the best photos that have been taken from our boat this August. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what better way to describe what we have been seeing than to look at these amazing photos.

Describe for you what has become know as “The Cajun Group”. This is a large group of Humpback whales that has been traveling together for months now (a very unusual occurrence for Humpback whales) and seems to dominate most of our trips. It is an amazing, fascinating, and more than a little impressive sight. To learn more about “the Cajun Group” click HERE.

But for now here’s some of my favorite photos that have been taken during the first eleven days of August. Let’s start with a video taken by Amy Buttiglieri of “The Cajun Group” swimming very close to the boat :

Check back soon for another update!

Captain Jay
7 seas Whale Watch
Gloucester, MA

AUGUST 12, 2010

LATEST SIGHTINGS :

DATE August 12, 2010 (Totals for Both Trips)

location Stellwagen (southeast corner, 32 miles from Gloucester)

WHALES 31+ Humpback Whales (including 7 mother and calf pair), 2 Minke Whales, and 150-250 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

BIRDS 1 Cory’s Shearwater, 2 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Forster’s tern, and numerous Greater Shearwaters, Common Terns, Northern Gannets, Wilson’s Storm Petrels, and Bonaparte’s Gulls.

ADDITIONAL SIGHTINGS: 2 Basking Sharks, 2 Blue Sharks, 2 Harbor Seals, and many schools of Blue-fin Tuna.

All Photos on this page were taken in August 2010 aboard the 7 Seas Whale Watch vessel PRIVATEER IV

WHALE SIGHTINGS AUGUST 12, 2010

In addition to “The Cajun Group” (described below), this Humpback whale, a male called “Timberline”, has been a regular over the past week.

Two Humpback Whales Make A Close To Boat Approach

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins Have Been Seen On Many Recent Trips

A Humpback Whale Breaching

At Times Many Of The Humpback Whales In The Area Are Actively Feeding At The Surface

Humpback Whale “Flipper-slapping”

A Young Humpback Whale Breaching

Two Humpback Whales Diving With Provincetown Tower In The Background

A Humpback Whale Named Jabiru

A Breaching Humpback Whale

Feeding Humpback Whales

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins

Two Humpback Whales That Were Part Of A Large Feeding Group

A Humpback Whale Called “Cajun” and Her Calf

A Humpback Whale called “Salt”. The “Grand Old Lady” Of Our Population. Salt Was The First Humpback Whale To Be Named (Way Back In 1976)

A Humpback Whale Calf Breaching On A Rough Day (Adult Humpback In Foreground)

Basking Sharks (The Second Largest Fish In The World) Are Being Sighted Frequently Now That August Has Arrived. We Expect To Continue To See Basking Sharks Until At Least The Middle Of September