It was a great kick-off to the month of September today with two beautiful trips out on the water! During our AM trip, we were lucky to see two different species of whales. We first saw a small fin whale going on a few dives around our boat. Then we decided to explore the Bank to see what other whales we could find. Our guessing paid off, and we found a humpback named Lutris breaching! We were able to see a few good breaches from this whale before it switched to doing some flipper slapping. The flipper slapping went on for quite some time and then Lutris decided to tail lob for a bit. It was so fun to see all of these different behaviors! Lutris apparently tired itself out after this activity and began going on some long, lazy dives, but was kind enough to fluke for us so we could get an ID!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, flipper slapping, humpbacks, Lutris

Labels: breaching, calf, flipper slapping, Fulcrum, mother

Labels: breaching, calf, Fulcrum, mother, pinpoint

Labels: breaching, calf, flipper slapping, humpbacks, mother, Tulip

Labels: breaching, circus, flipper slapping, humpbacks, minke whale

What a great afternoon trip! We had a mother and calf pair to start, we got some great looks at the calf, who was doing a ton of breaching, and rolling all around. Don't know who the Mom was as she never gave us great looks at her. Then we decided to go check out some other whales that were near by and found several other humpbacks on was also breaching and rolling around, and some of the others were doing some feeding. Super close looks at a pair of them. We know that two of these humpbacks were Pixar and Sloop.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist, photos by Melissa Rocha

Labels: breaching, calf, mother, pixar, rolling, Sloop

Labels: 2009 Season, breaching, calf, humpback

This afternoon was beautiful! We could see spouts all around, and came across Ithmus, her calf, and a few individuals traveling. The calf was feeling pretty playful, and treated us to some rolling! Ithmus joined in after a bit with a couple rolls of her own, and some tail lobs! Something must have been in the water because we started seeing another whales breaching in the distance!

Labels: breaching, calf, Isthmus, mother, tail lobbing

Photo taken by a visitor.
See more visitor photos and submit your own here.

Photos by Melissa Rocha

Our morning trip we had a feeding frenzy happening! A bunch of humpbacks were feeding everywhere. We were on the southern part of the bank again today; that seems to be the hot spot right now for food. There were a couple of whale watch boats by us, and all together at least 15-20 whales feeding around us! What a great day. I couldn't tell passengers where to even look--the whales were all around! We had Leukos, Nile and her calf, Geometry, and Reflection and her calf, just to name a few that we could get IDs on. Then we had one doing several breaches as it was time to go to top the trip off!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, breaching, feeding, Geometry, Nile, Reflection

Photo taken by a visitor.
See more visitor photos and submit your own here.

We had a beautiful day on the water today! During our morning trip, we saw a bunch of humpbacks! The first whales we found were going on some dives, and we were able to identify Alphorn among the three that were near our boat. We then found a mother and calf pair, and we paused to check them out while three other whales in the distance did some flipper slapping. But the best part of the morning was yet to come: we found a whale named Coral breaching! We got great looks at this whale while it was out of the water. Coral was getting a work out, doing quite a bit of breaching with some flipper slaps and even a full roll!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: Alphorn, breaching, calf, humpback, humpback whale, mother

We had so much activity this afternoon, it seemed like every whale we saw was doing something on the surface on the water! We watched a mother whose calf was breaching and rolling around a ton. Then every other whale we saw on the trip seemed to be doing either be breaching, flipper slapping, or swimming close by us to give us great looks!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, breaching, feeding, flipper slapping

We had a beautiful close to the Fourth of July weekend! Our sunset cruise featured great weather and calm seas. We also had some great whales! First, we found a humpback mother and calf pair. We got some nice looks at these two before spotting four humpbacks traveling together ahead of us. We moved forward to see these whales, who were heading south quite quickly. At one point we had three on one side of our boat and one on the other! After getting some looks we decided to explore the bank a bit. We headed north and found our mom and calf from earlier. There also seemed to be a few more individuals in the area, but they were difficult for us to get an exact location on. As we approached mom and baby, we saw a breach! We got a little closer and mom gave us a few waves with her pectoral fin and did some flipper slapping! We saw mom's fluke, which I'm working on an ID of, and as we were leaving she gave us another wave goodbye!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, flukes, humpbacks, mother

It seems third time was the charm today. Our sunset cruise began in the same very dense fog that was around earlier in the day. We lucked out though, and it cleared up half way into our voyage! The first whale we found was a minke! This little whale stayed near us for a bit before swimming away, allowing us to get some good looks at it. We then saw a breach from a humpback! It happened quite quickly, so only a few of us saw it, but we stayed with this whale and got some great close looks at it's body including it's fluke. This individual even treated us to a little roll - perhaps interested in the school of sandlance in the water!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: bait, breaching, flukes, minke whale, rolling

Photos by Melissa Rocha

This morning's trip we got some cool looks at a mother and calf pair. The mother was Fulcrum who is easy to ID and spot when at the surface from her distinctive dorsal fin or well almost lack there of. She has suffered from entanglements and a collision with a boat, but she is a fighter! This is her second calf, her first was born in 2007, when Fulcrum was just 10 years old. Her calf today was showing off by doing a bunch of breaching. The calf then looked like it was practicing blowing bubbles like we see the adults do when they are feeding, yet the calf wasn't feeding. Not quite sure what the little one was doing, might just have been playing. Beautiful looks today!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, Fulcrum, mother

Our afternoon trip was another success! First we met a couple humbacks that we were able to get some close looks at. Then, seeing some splashing in the distance, we went to investigate. We came across Falcon, who was being quite the show-off! We had several breaches from this whale, including a tail breach and some flipper slapping. Falcon was definitely playing with the boat a bit, and we were able to get some great looks at it's upper body and belly. After this spectacular show, we all enjoyed a sunny ride home!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, falcon, humpbacks, tail breaching

Photos courtesy of Wouter Groot
See more photos by whale watch visitors and contribute your own here.




Photos courtesy of Tim Poe
See more photos by whale watch visitors and contribute your own here.

We had some great whales today! During our AM trip, we found a couple of juvenile humpbacks who spent some time swimming around our boat. One in particular was being very playful. We had a couple breaches and rolls from this whale, getting great looks at it's underside! It waved to us with it's pectoral fins, and even did a spy hop (maybe to get a better look at us). We stayed with these two almost the entire trip, since they were putting on quite a show!
~ Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, humpbacks, juvenile, spy-hopped

Photos by Melissa Rocha

What an incredible afternoon whale watch! We first saw 1 humpback that was going on some longer dives, and then went to see if we could get some looks at a mother and calf that we heard from another boat was very active. We got a real treat by doing this! We saw the calf breach almost the entire time we were there! The calf did several full breaches and a ton of rolling on the surface. It was such a great trip, still can't believe the calf breached almost the whole time we were there! The mom was also around for a few minutes before going down on longer dives, and mom was Nile, who we had seen with this calf just the day before in the afternoon!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, Nile, tail breaching

Photos by Melissa Rocha

What an AMAZING trip this morning! Sadly yesterday afternoon we were not able to come across any whales which was unusual, and we searched everywhere. That is the hard part of going out to see wild animals in nature they may not be any where to be found. Today though was another story! We came across Reflection and her calf, and 2 other humpbacks near by. The calf was doing a whole array of activities, including breaching! The calf breached several times next to our boat, and the would roll around slap the surface of the water with it's flipper! Such a great trip, with a rock star calf!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, flipper slapping, humpbacks, Reflection

Our AM trip we came across 2 humpbacks and a few minke whales! Got some really nice looks at the minke whales and as we were leaving several people got to see one of the humpbacks BREACH!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, humpbacks, minke whale

On our second trip of the day today the wind had picked up, making it harder to spot whales. We were lucky though, coming across a trio of humpbacks. At first, these whales were taking some longer dives, but allowing us to get nice and close to them while they were at the surface. We got some great looks at their bodies and flukes and were able to identify one of the whales as I.T. Then, just as we were about to leave, I.T. breached! We caught a few nice breaches, making for a great finale!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, dives, humpbacks, I.T.

We had a lovely New England day today (grey and rainy) and some incredible whales! On our AM trip, we first found a breaching mother and calf humpback pair! The calf was very small, perhaps getting it's first breaching lesson, and also did a few breaches of it's fluke. They then practiced slapping their pectoral fins a bit. We moved away from these two and found another humpback mother and calf traveling with an escort. This calf was being very playful and rolling around.
While we were checking out these whales a curious seal popped up to investigate our boat! It was a very eventful morning!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, humpbacks, mother, slapping

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We had the most AMAZING morning trip today! Such a great way to celebrate World Ocean's Day! We had three humpbacks all together they were breaching when we first got to them. One of them breached another time right next to the boat, and then they kept up with lots of different activities! They all started to roll on their sides and flipper slap, and a couple of times all the way over on their backs showing off their bellies! We got great looks at the grooved undersides. I have never seen three adult humpbacks all rolling around like that in unison! The three that we had were Ursa, Belly, and Wyoming. And we heard from another Whale Watch boat that they had a couple of humpbacks that were doing similar activities not far away.
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: Belly, breaching, flipper slapping, rolling, Ursa, Wyoming

During our PM trip, we got a quick and close look at a Minke whale. We then came across a pair of larger humpbacks travelling together. Deciding to go off and explore a bit more, we found a mother and calf humpback pair. We got some close looks at these whales, with several other humpback individuals around us in the distance. As we were heading back to Boston another calf breached right next to our boat! It happened so fast that most of us missed it, but we stopped for another minute and were able to catch a quick tail breach. All in all, a very satisfying trip!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, humpbacks, mother

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We traveled down to the southern part of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary today to find quite a few humpbacks this afternoon! We saw several in the distance but really stayed with a Mother and her calf with their escort. The mother is a whale named Anvil, and her little calf put on a nice show for us by breaching a few times right next to us! A beautiful afternoon on the water!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: anvil, breaching, humpbacks

Our PM trip was quite the ride. The seas were very bumpy, but we made it out to the whales anyway. Once we got out there we had an amazing show! We had several Humpbacks around us, with about three breaching! Among this group was a mother and calf pair, and the calf was doing some breaching as well (maybe learning how to breach from Mom and the other adults around). After some breaching and good looks at the torsos of these whales, two of the adult humpbacks began lobbing their flukes together. They were side by side slapping their flukes in unison and we even got a double breach at one point! Despite our sea conditions, we had a phenomenal day. As we pulled into Boston Harbor in the rain, a rainbow appeared over us--a nice metaphor for the afternoon.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, humpbacks, mother, tail lobbing

Photos courtesy of Jordan Carswell.
See more visitor photos and submit your own here.

Photos by Melissa Rocha

On our AM trip we had several whales all around us! We got some really nice looks at both feeding humpbacks and a breaching one! One of the feeding whales came up with its mouth wide open right next to the boat, lunging out of the water giving great looks at the ventral pleats! Such a great look! Then we went and check out a breaching humpback and it started to breach so close to us! Some of the whales we had today were: Cajun, Isthmus and her calf, and Pixar! There were a few others that either didn't show off their tails or I wasn't able to catch them. A great way to start off Memorial Day!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, cajun, feeding, humpbacks, Isthmus, pixar

Photos submitted by a visitor.
See more and submit your own here.

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We had 2 species on our PM trip! We first got AMAZING looks at 2 Fin whales, the second largest species of whale! They swam nice and close showing how large they really are! One of the animals had a propeller scar on it's right side. Entanglements and ship strikes are the biggest dangers to whales today. Then as if the fins whales weren't enough we went and saw a mother and calf pair that was super active on the surface! The mother was rolling at the surface flipper slapping then would go on a dive and come up BREACHING! Such a great afternoon with such cool looks at whales!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, fin whale, humpbacks, mother

Photo by Melissa Rocha

We had such a crazy morning trip! So many whales! We saw a fin whale and then started to watch 3 humpbacks. The 3 humpbacks were a mother and calf with and escort, Mom was Isthmus and the escort was another familiar female Cajun! Those three were making their way over to where another whale watching boat was watching Bilbo and other humpback who was feeding. So were watching all 4 whales when all of a sudden there was almost double the whales around us! All of them feeding, and we had the calf BREACH 2 times! The other 4 whales that moved in were another mother calf pair ( Fulcrum with calf), Etch-a-Sketch, and another large female who was a mom last year Tornado! Sadly we did have to leave but the whales didn't seem to want that, one of the whales and Isthmus and her calf saw right next to the boat!

Photo by Melissa Rocha

Plus we had a little warbler who hitched a ride back to Boston with us!
What a day to be out whale watching!

~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist, photos by Melissa Rocha

Labels: Bilbo, breaching, cajun, calf, Etch-a-Sketch, fin whale, Fulcrum, mother, Tornado

Photo by Melissa Rocha

Our PM we had several Humpbacks, including a mother and calf pair. We saw about 3 different Humpbacks that were breaching! We got some really nice looks at one of the ones that was breaching. We then took some looks at the mother and calf pair that was logging (resting) with 2 other humpbacks. Nice looks especially at all the breaching!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, humpbacks, mother

During our PM trip, we saw yet another adorable mother-calf pair. This calf was very playful, doing some fluke and flipper slapping and even breaching! It waved to the boat a few times while mom went down on some shallow dives. These humpbacks were also travelling with a juvenile whale. We got some nice close looks at these whales, and we were lucky to see a little seal poke its head above the water to check us out!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: breaching, calf, dives, flipper slapping, harbor seal, humpbacks, mother

What a trip! The seas were a little bumpy, but we got great looks at some humpback whales! We had Dome and another juvenile humpback whale today. The juvenile who I wasn't able to get a good look at the fluke, gave us quite a show. We saw this animal tail breach and to top that did several full breaches and about 5 chin breaches! Such great looks!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: breaching, humpbacks, juvenile, tail breaching

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

Today's trips were phenomenal! In the morning we had Pepper a female humpback first seen in 1978! Also seen that morning were several other females; Nile, Anchor, and Lavalier. In the Afternoon we found Frisbee a fairly young whale. Frisbee decided to give everyone a real treat by doing all of the following: flipper slapping, rolling, tail lobbing, and even breaching the entire trip!

Labels: 2008 Season, breaching, flipper slapping, humpback whale, rolling, tail lobbing

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

photo by naturalists Melissa Rocha

Both trips today were filled with mothers and their calves, TONS of whales and activity! On the AM trip we had Cajun and her calf with Percussion as an escort. Then we found Echo her calf with Tectonic and another whale. Towards the end we came across Cygnus, Anchor and Fulcrum starting to feed. In the afternoon we saw several breaches! and not just full breaches but also some chin and tail breaches as well. There were some minke's that popped up during the afternoon trip as well. Whales this afternoon were: Fulcrum, Lavalier, Rune, Filament, Anchor, and Draco.

subscribe

Labels: 2008 Season, breaching, chin-breaching, humpback whale, tail breaching

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

subscribe

Labels: 2008 Season, breaching, humpback whale, minke whale