Friday, September 2
The water was glass calm on Friday.
We first came across a pair of humpback whales. Shortly after, a small pod of
Atlantic white-sided dolphins cruised past. We stayed with the pair of
humpbacks, who turned out to be Pinball and Highlighter. Pinball was down on
Stellwagen Bank just a week ago. She sure does get around! Another humpback
whale named Dross was also spotted in the distance.
We then spotted a cute little harbor
seal pup. This animal was curious about the boat and looked right at us as we
rotated around so everyone could get a good look. What a friendly little seal!
We then had a single humpback surface a little closer to us, who turned out to
be Satula! Clamp also surfaced after Satula dove. The whales were popping up
all around us! We left this area to see what else was out there.
We passed a minke whale before
ultimately finding another pair of humpback whales: Spoon and Chromosome. These
two spent a lot of time together last year, so it was great to see them
reunited! Spoon even gave us some flipper slaps between naps!
Saturday, September 3
Saturday morning started with a small
group of harbor porpoises and a minke whale. Our first large whale of the day
was a female humpback named Dross. After spending some time with her, we found
Pinball, another female humpback. She came close to the boat at one point, much
to the delight of our passengers.
Next, we found a pair of humpbacks.
One whale we recognized as Ase, who we have seen a few times over the past
week. The other whale was not identified until we were back on land, and it
turned out to be Stump, a new whale for us this season! After leaving these two,
we came across Satula, who stayed near us for a few dives. We came across
a pair of sleeping whales before it was time to head home. Both whales only
showed a little of their flukes, but this was enough to identify them as A-Plus
and Shuffleboard.
The wind picked up quite a bit in the
afternoon; thanks to our brave passengers for toughing it out! Our first
sighting of the trip was a humpback whale named Crisp. Jabiru was also in the
area, and we were able to watch this female humpback for one dive. We then
spotted a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. This pod was moving fast
and didn’t seem interested in the boat, so we moved on. We found a pair of
whales next, who turned out to be Nile and her calf! The pair surprised us with
a few tail breaches.
We then came across a pair of
humpbacks: Ase and an unknown whale. While we were watching these two, we
spotted some splashing in the distance and decided to investigate. There were
two pairs being very active: flipper slapping, lobtailing and tail breaching.
One pair was Spoon and Chromosome, and the other pair was Shuffleboard and A-Plus.
The trip finally wrapped up with a quick appearance from a harbor seal.
Sunday, September 4
Sunday morning really felt like fall.
It may have been warm and humid on shore, but it was cool and crisp on the
water. We saw two harbor seals and a minke whale before finding our first large
whale: a fin whale! We saw another exhalation close to us, and it turned out to
be a male humpback whale named Nike. After spending some time with Nike, we
found Spoon and Yurt. We also had two additional humpbacks in the distance:
Clamp and Ase. At one point Clamp separated from Ase and gave us some wonderful
closeups as she circled our boat.
After leaving this area, we found
Pinball and Satula, who we have seen a lot of this season. Satula was only
briefly in the distance, but passengers were able to get some great views of
Pinball. We spotted some splashing in the distance, which turned out to be two
more humpbacks: Chromosome and Shuffleboard. There were breaching and flipper
slapping. A perfect end to this trip!
In the afternoon, we found a total of
six humpback whales. They were moving in and out of the area and changing
groups as well. First, we had Spoon and Yurt, who were later joined by Clamp.
We then spent some time with Jabiru and A-Plus. We turned around to check out
some more humpbacks in a different area, and came across Spoon, Yurt, and
Clamp, who were now joined by Ase.
The rain will keep us tied to the
dock until Wednesday, when our fall schedule officially starts. What a
wonderful holiday weekend!
