Today it took us a little while to find some whales, but we eventually came across Tulip and her calf! On our way to Tulip, we passed by another humpback traveling by itself, but we kept on going since we had already spotted our mom and calf a little further away. Tulip and her calf were having a lazy afternoon. We were able to get great, close looks at these whales. Tulip went on some dives while her calf stayed at the surface and treated us to a few rolls and flipper slaps! The pair kept switching sides of the boat, and the calf gave us a few more rolls before we had to head home. It was a cold, but very nice trip!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist, Photo of Tulip's calf

Labels: calf, flipper slaps, humpback, rolls, Tulip

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother, Nile, rolling, tail breaching

Labels: calf, flipper slaps, humpback, minke, pinpoint

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

Labels: breaching, calf, Fulcrum, mother, pinpoint

Labels: Alpha, calf, Fulcrum, humbbacks, logging, white-sided dolphins

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother, Reflection

Labels: calf, calf. flipper slapping, humpbacks, mother, Percussion

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

Labels: calf, humpbacks, Nile

It was a beautiful sunny day on the Bank, and there were a lot of whales around! Most of them were going on some pretty long dives, probably searching around for food, and we'd get a quick glimpse of them on the surface. About halfway through the trip, we came across Nile and her calf. The calf is quickly becoming one of my favorites because it is such a show off around the boat. We saw a couple breaches, and then the calf swam right up to both sides of the boat for some amazing close looks!

Labels: calf, humpback, Nile

The whales were less spread out than they had been on our morning trip, and we came a across a trio that included Habenaro. They were doing some logging, and after a while started traveling and doing a bit of diving. Soon, they met up with another group of five humpbacks! This group included Music, Jaribou, Lavalier and her calf, and we had all eight whales together! We finished off the sunny afternoon trip with a quick glimpse of another baleen whale; the minke whale.

Labels: calf, habanero, humpbacks, Jabiru, Lavalier, minke whale, music

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother

Today we got to see two of our humpback mothers this year. First we Nile and her calf, who were doing a little bit of logging, the calf was roiling a bit for us showing off its pectoral flippers. Then we spotted Anvil and her calf who was breaching when first arrived at them, then slowed down but saw a few more half breaches out it. A beautiful day on the whales.
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: anvil, calf, flippers, humpbacks, mother, Nile

Labels: calf, flipper slaps, half breaches, humpbacks, Nile, rolls, tail lobbing

Labels: bubble netting, calf, Coral, humpbacks, open-mouth feeding, tail lobbing

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: calf, humpbacks, Isthmus, open-mouth feeding

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

We had a great day today, seeing all three species of our whales on BOTH trips! On our AM trip, we chased a few fin whales around and caught some quick glimpses of a minke whale. We then found a humpback mother and calf pair who we were able to approach very closely. These two stayed with us for the rest of the trip, giving us some great looks! I wasn't able to ID mom, but her and her adorable calf made it a great morning for us!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

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

On our AM trip today, we first found a humpback pair, but they went on a deep dive and we couldn't find them again. We then came across Fulcrum and her calf once again. They seemed to be having a nice morning, and treated us to some great close up looks! Fulcrum even decided to show us her fluke a couple of times. Just as we were about to head home, Fulcrum's calf did a cute little tail lob and a roll!

On our PM trip, mother nature was not so kind to us, and we had to turn back due to rough seas.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

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

Labels: 2009 Season, breaching, calf, humpback

Labels: 2009 Season, calf, Fulcrum, 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.

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

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We had Nile and her calf and an escort whale for this morning's trip. This is the first time I have seen Nile with an escort this season. An escort whale is another whale who is helping mom with the calf, usually another adult female. The escort may stay with the mom for a few hours or days, or it could be with the mom for weeks even months. Last year, we had a mom whose escort was with it for months! If the whales weren't special enough on our way back we got to see some of the Tall Ships leaving, and a few of them were even at full sail. The captain gave us a treat by taking a different route back into Boston so we could go by them!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, calf, humpbacks, Nile

Photos by Melissa Rocha

On this afternoon's trip, we had 4 humpbacks very close together, and we ended up staying with 2 of them, Lavalier and her calf. The calf was being super active, swimming very close to the boat. Then it started breaching and rolling around, showing off its large pectoral flipper, which will only keep getting bigger!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, calf, humpback, Lavalier

Labels: bubble feeding, calf, Fulcrum, humpbacks

This morning we came across two large groups of humpbacks traveling together. On one side of the boat we had five adults, and the other side we had Thumper and her calf joined by three other adults! They were all doing some pretty long dives, except for the last few when the calf hung out by the boat as the others dove!
~ Emily Griffin, naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, calf, humpbacks

This morning we had a bumpy trip out to the whales but were able to get some great looks at Fulcrum and her calf! Fulcrum is a whale we have known on Stellwagen since she was calf back in 1997! Fulcrum has a very distinctive dorsal that let's us be able to know her from the surface without seeing her fluke. Fulcrum calf was getting hungry and started to nurse, a very cool thing to see. When a calf starts to nurse they will go down on a dive on one side of their mother and then come back up on the other, and keep switching sides each time. This calf can drink about 100 gallons of milk a day! That way at the end of the first year, it will almost double in it's size!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Fulcrum, mother

Labels: calf, Fulcrum, mother

We ran into BOTH mom and calf pairs from this morning on our PM trip, and they were still doing some great behaviors! Lavalier and her calf showed up first-- we could see mom tail breaching as we approached! The calf also gave us some rolls and flipper slaps. We then found Fulcrum and her calf. The calf began breaching right next to the boat! We got a few more rolls from Fulcrum's calf, while Lavalier and her calf approached us and Lavalier began tail breaching again!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, flipper slapping, Fulcrum, Lavalier, mother, rolling, tail breaching

We had an amazing day today in terms of whales, even if the weather wasn't the best! On our AM trip we first found Fulcrum and her calf. We got some nice looks, with Fulcrum's calf rolling and flipper slapping. Next we passed by three humpbacks doing some deep diving, but we continued on to another mother and calf. Mom was most likely Lavalier (we ran into her and her calf again on the PM trip and were able to positively ID her then). While the mother went on some dives, the calf breached! This calf was being very playful with us. As if this wasn't enough, we then proceeded to find at least four humpbacks doing some deep feeding as well as a pair of fin whales and a minke!
~ Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, fin whale, Fulcrum, Lavalier, minke whale, mother

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

We had a fantastic 4th of July sunset watch! It began by finding a humpback mother and calf pair. We got some nice looks at these two, with mom even giving us a few tail lobs! This pair was traveling a bit, so we decided to head over to some other humpbacks nearby. We then found at least four humpbacks feeding! The best part was that our mother and calf from earlier came over to join the others. We saw some great open mouth feeding as well as a few rolls and tail slaps from all of these whales, who were very close together and very close to our boat. It looks like summer weather has finally come to New England, and we had a beautiful sunset, complete with fireworks as we approached Boston! Happy Fourth of July!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, feeding, humpbacks, mother

What a beautiful Fourth of July! The sun was out again and we had some feeding humpback whales! We saw Etch-a-Sketch doing some kick feeding right next to the boat ... Then we also got to see Pinpoint and Apex and her calf feeding with some huge open mouths, showing us their baleen plates! Plus to make it even better we saw some fin whales doing some lunge feeding! These fin whales are the second largest whale! All together we probably had about 6 different humpbacks!
~ Melisaa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Etch-a-Sketch, fin whale, humpbacks, kick feeding, mother

Wow it's already July! We canceled our morning trip today, due to some severe thunderstorms and the heavy fog. As we headed out on our afternoon trip we still had some fog but were able to find 3 humpbacks! We came across a mother and calf with an escort. I believe the mother was Lavalier. We were able to watch them for a while but then the fog rolled in pretty heavy and we lost them. As we moved around the area slowly we were able to pick the escort back up and then a few others! By the end of our trip we had about 4-6 feeding humpbacks and 2 lunge feeding fin whales! Just goes to show that even in the fog we still have hope and can still find the whales sometimes! One of the feeding humpbacks was a whale named Cajun, a whale we have seen several times this year.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

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

Photos by Melissa Rocha

Labels: Alphorn, Apex, basking shark, cajun, calf, Coral, Jabiru, Milkweed, Mostaza, mother, Simian, Tornado

Photo by Melissa Rocha

On our afternoon trip we got some great looks at a mother and her calf! The calf gave us some nice close looks, and their were several other whales all around us, that other boats were watching, all in all there was probably about 10 different whales just in our general area! Unfortunately mom didn't fluke up for us so I wasn't able to know who she was. At the end of our trip though one of the whales that had been with one of the other boats and a different mother and calf pair joined ours, and we got to see who it was, Tornado! Tornado is a female who had a calf last year, and seemed to be making the rounds of the new mom's today!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, mother, Tornado

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

This afternoon we had a delightful mother and calf humpback pair who stayed with our boat the entire trip. We were able to ID this mother as Nile, who we've seen out already this season with her calf. Nile went on a few deeper dives, leaving the calf with the boat. The calf was playing around with us, especially while mom was away! We were able to get some nice close looks at the bodies and flukes of both of these whales, making for a great trip!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, dives, mother, Nile

We saw some interesting things on our morning adventure. In all, we saw at least six humpbacks, if not more! We first found a few single whales going on some deep dives. While they were at the surface, we were able to get some great looks at their flukes. Moving on to some more whales a ways away, we came across TWO mother and calf humpback pairs, and possibly had a few more single whales in the vicinity. Both mother-calf pairs got close to our boat, so we were able to get great looks at them! Additionally, we spotted many birds on the water, along with some very large striped bass and HUGE schools of sandlance (a favorite treat for humpbacks!) in the water.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: bait, calf, flukes, humpbacks, mother

We got to see a bunch of humpback whales feeding this morning! Two of the whales we saw were Refection and her calf, her calf was learning to feed, which allowed all of us some pretty cool and unique looks. The calf was trying to mimic it's mother, and the other whales around it, however they weren't all doing just one feeding technique they were all doing a few different ones. This resulted in the calf doing a strange attempt at all of them. It was pretty funny to watch at times, but on one of the times the calf came up next to the boat trying to lunge open mouth through the school of fish, we got to see it's little baleen plates so nicely! There was so much sandlance in the water, and schools of it as far as we could see. Also not only were the whales loving all the sandlance but we saw several large fish under the surface feeding on them as well.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, feeding, humpbacks, juvenile, mother

Photo of Reflection's fluke by Melissa Rocha

On our AM trip today we had Reflection and her calf! he calf was swimming next to us and showing us some great looks at the size difference between a mom and their baby! Reflection's calf will double in it's size this first year. The calf is still nursing from mom right now, but starting to eat on their own as well. They can be very amusing to watch when they are doing this, since they are learning they don't always get it right the first few times.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, mother, Reflection

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

Our afternoon trip we got some nice looks at 2 logging humpbacks! These resting whales were full grown adults so we got great nice looks at how large they can grow to be. Then a little further off we saw a mother and calf. The calf was very active at the surface, and so we went and checked it out. We found Nile and her calf! Nile is the 1987 calf of Mars who was first seen in 1979, and also has a calf this year! We got some great looks at both of them and the calf did a few tail breaches for us!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, Mars, mother, Nile

Humpback open mouth feeding (top), including some sandlance coming out of the whale's mouth and sandlance at surface (bottom). Photos by Melissa Rocha.

On this mornings trip we saw at least 10-15 different humpback whales all feeding! We traveled to the South west part of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the whales were feeding non stop while we were there! The whales were doing a lot of lunge and open mouth feeding, and the school of sandlance (bait) that they were feeding on was right next to the boat! A few times some of the whales came up next to us! There was one mother and calf pair out, it was Anvil with her calf. We also had Sloop who was a mother last year. Such a great day on the water with amazing whales feeding all around us!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: anvil, bait, bubble feeding, calf, humpbacks, mother

On our PM trip, the whales were being quite elusive. After much searching and exploring, we lucked out. Just as we were about to reluctantly head home, we found a mother and calf humpback pair going on a few shallow dives! We were able to get very close to these whales, with nice views of their heads and pectoral fins as well as a few good fluke looks. I was able to identify the mother as Photon, who is a new mom this year! This ID made our trip extra special and exciting.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother, Photon

We had some bumpy rides out to the whales today. Additionally, during our AM trip we had some fog to battle with. We got lucky, however: the fog cleared and we came across a single humpback whale going on some deep dives. After checking out this whale for a little bit, we moved on and found a humpback calf (mom must have been on a very deep dive). The calf showed us it's fluke, and even did a little fluke breach! We got a couple close looks at this little one before moving on one more time to check out another solo humpback. This whale was taking a few shallower dives, so we hung around a bit longer than normal to get some nice, close looks at it.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, dives, humpbacks, mother

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

Photo by Melissa Rocha

Our afternoon trip today we got some great looks at 3 fin whales all swimming really close together. Plus some amazing looks at a mother and calf pair that were swimming under the surface of the water.
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother

Photos by Melissa Rocha

This afternoon's trip we had a mother and calf pair. Mom is Mars who was first spotted on the Stellwagen back in 1979, meaning she is at least 30 years old! Scientist think Humpbacks can live as long as 50 years but maybe even longer we're not really sure. The calf was very playful, rolling all around and even doing a headstand right next to the boat!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, Mars, mother

Photo by Melissa Rocha

Our AM trip we had at least 7 different humpbacks! We saw a mother and her calf, the calf sadly had some scars on its body, they were well healed though, which is good. We then saw 2 pairs of adults, Tornado and another adult, plus Canopy, and Whisk.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Canopy, humpbacks, mother, Tornado, Whisk

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

We had another beautiful day on the water today! Our morning excursion started off with a quick look at two fin whales. We were also lucky to get some close looks at a humpback mother and (very playful) calf traveling with an escort. I was not able to positively ID the mother, but based on the dorsal fin, it may have been Anchor again. We got a terrific show from the calf, who decided to roll around and float on it's back at the surface while mom and the escort were going on some deeper dives.

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: Anchor, calf, humpbacks, rolling

During our afternoon trip, we got nice and close to several humpback whales. First we found a mother and calf pair going on some dives. We then saw some splashing going on in the distance and went to investigate. When we got there we discovered Anchor traveling with her calf and an escort. Anchor is a whale we spotted a few days ago. We got great looks at all three of these whales who stayed close together and close to us! Our trip was capped off with a gorgeous,
sunny ride home!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: Anchor, calf, humpbacks, mother

We had a beautiful day today for viewing whales! On our AM trip, we first got a quick glimpse of a minke whale. Since minkes are a bit shy, this one didn't stick around too long. We then came upon Isthmus with her calf. They were having a lazy morning, but were curious and playful with our boat. The calf kept swimming from one side of the boat to the other--keeping us all on our toes. We got some great, very close looks at these two, who stayed right with us for the rest of the trip!
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, Isthmus, minke whale, mother

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

Today was a crazy day out on the water! We started out this morning seeing several humpback and fin whales! It was quite a nice surprise to get good looks at multiple individuals from these species. One of our fin whales was absolutely huge and going on some shallow dives. As far as our Humpbacks were concerned, we had a mother and calf doing some shallow dives as well, and a couple of other adults all diving and showing us their flukes on occasion. A few good photographers on board got some shots and we were able to ID one of the adult Humpbacks as Anchor! We weren't sure if Anchor was the mom we were looking at, but she is a confirmed mother. Apart from these whales that we were able to get close to, there were several others around us that were much further away. All in all, it was quite a busy morning.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, fin whale, humpbacks, mother

photos by Melissa Rocha

Such a nice afternoon to be on the water. We saw about 4 fin whales and got amazing looks at them! They usually don't hang out at the surface for as long as they did today, giving us a great opportunity to see how big they are. Then we saw several humpbacks, one group we were watching was a mother and calf pair with an escort. The calf was being very playful and rolling all around, but then one of the adults started to show off for us as well a real treat! And we had a special birthday today, our boat the Voyager III turned 10! Thank you to everyone who helped with signing to it!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother, rolling, Voyager III

Labels: calf, flukes, humpbacks, mother

Photo courtesy Yvonne Baur
See more photos from visitors and submit your own here.

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We canceled our AM trip but went out in the afternoon, and had a great trip! We saw several humpback whales, including Lavalier and her calf! We saw some beautiful open mouth feeding, which started as the whale was kicking the surface and then going down on a dive and blowing bubbles as the whale swims up.
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, feeding, humpbacks, Lavalier, mother

Photos by Melissa Rocha

Our sunset trip tonight was Whalerific! So many whales, I couldn't even keep track!! They were having a fairly low key night, but there was lots of them. We had at least 12 different Humpbacks! One was a mother named Lavalier and her calf and she had an escort who I wasn't able to get an ID on. Then there was Trident, Vulture, Spirit, and 2 others all traveling together, and thanks to our captain being so nice let us stay another few minutes longer to get another look at them and let me get the fluke shot I needed to ID them. And of course to top off all the whales the sunset was absolutely beautiful!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, Lavalier, mother, Spirit, sunset, Trident, Vulture

Photos by Melissa Rocha

During the afternoon trip today Fulcrum showed up with her calf, to show off for us. Her calf was rolling all around, but still staying pretty close to mom. The calf was also doing come weird headstands under the water coming up to the surface with it's tail first and just laying there showing off! A beautiful day on the water!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Fulcrum, headstands, mother, rolling

Photos submitted by a visitor.
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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

Photos by Melissa Rocha

We had a mother and calf pair with an escort this morning. Our mother was Isthmus with her calf from this year. Her escort was another well known female Cajun! The calf was pretty active at the surface rolling around and showing off its pectoral flippers! A nice trip with the weather holding off for us as well!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: cajun, calf, Isthmus, mother, rolling

Photos by Melissa Rocha

Our first Sunset of the 2009 season! We had a spectacular sunset! We had a mother calf pair with an escort, and the calf was pretty active. The calf was rolling around at the surface showing us it's pectoral flippers, and even better it was tail lobbing like crazy. Such a nice way to start off the sunset season! (The next sunset trip is May 30, and there are more in June. Check the schedule to see all of the upcoming dates.)
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, mother, sunset

The AM trip today we saw several humpback whales, including a mother and calf pair. All the animals gave us some great looks looks, and we believe there were some fin whales in the area as well!
~ Naturalist Bart Ostrum.

Labels: 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

Fin whale. Photo by Melissa Rocha, Naturalist

We had a great 1st trip today. We saw Mars and her calf with another juvenile traveling with them. Also 3 fin whales!

Labels: calf, fin whale, Mars, 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

Today was "cute calf" day out on the water! On our morning trip we saw a Humpback mother and calf pair. The calf seemed to be a little curious about our boat and was also learning how to feed by practicing its bubble blowing techniques! We also came across Etch-a-Sketch along with a couple of other humpbacks and a fin whale.
~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, Etch-a-Sketch, fin whale, humpbacks, mother

Photos courtesy of Gabriela Jürgensen
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Photo by Melissa Rocha

Our PM trip today gave us such incredible looks at one of my personal favorite whales Fulcrum! Fulcrum has her second calf this year and her calf was showing off for us like crazy! Then if Fulcrum and her calf weren't enough another adult moved in and joined then, followed by another mother and calf pair, AND a juvenile and another adult! They only stayed with us for a little while but still was a nice extra treat. Fulcrum's calf was rolling and really showing off her tail, and flippers by slapping them on the surface. Such a great day!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, flipper slapping, Fulcrum, mother

Photo by Melissa Rocha

On our PM trip we had several humpback whales, and a fin whale, and minke whales as well! Three of the more commonly seen species. We first got some beautiful looks at 2 logging (resting) humpbacks, this gave us a great look at how graceful they are by swimming right next to the boat and diving underneath! Then we saw one of my favorite humpbacks, Fulcrum, and her calf for this year! Her calf was doing some rolling for us showing us all it's little ventral pleats and flipper off. We had Fulcrum the other day too, but it's always nice to see a mom and calf, it gives a great idea of how big they are even as babies!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, fin whale, Fulcrum, humpbacks, logging, minke whale, mother

Photos by Melissa Rocha

On our PM trip, we got a break from the fog, and were able to come across at least 6 humpbacks and a fin whale! We got some great looks at the fin whale and at it's white blaze on the right side of the whale. We saw a mother and calf with an escort (another adult helping mom out), and the calf was super active! The calf was doing a ton of tail breaching, and rolling, showing off nicely for us. We could see tons of blows and some breaching in the distance and took a ride to see who else was out on the water that day, and got a real treat by seeing Salt! Salt is considered the matriarch on the bank, she is one of the first Humpbacks to be photo-ID on the Bank! She was traveling with another adult, but the other animal never showed off its fluke for us to see.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, fin whale, humpbacks, mother, rolling, Salt, tail breaching

We had the most amazing trip today! Great weather, and amazing whales feeding! We had between 10-12 humpbacks all in the same area feeding! Several of the whales were doing some kick feeding and then blowing bubbles, coming up between the bubbles with their mouths open letting us see their baleen plates. We also got a real special treat by having 2 mother, calf pairs feeding right next to each other! The mothers were Fulcrum (one of my personal favorites) and Isthmus, and their calves were right by their mom's learning how to feed for themselves. One of the other whales was one by the name of Nazca, and there was a few others but haven't been able to get their ID's right away. Such a great trip!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Fulcrum, humpbacks, Isthmus, kick feeding, mother, Nazca

Today was another beautiful day on the water. We found a mother and calf pair doing some shallow dives. The calf was very cute, and we thought that the mother may have been a whale called Photon. As we were heading home we came across three or more other humpbacks also doing some shallow dives. Stopping to check out these whales, we were able to identify one as Rune, who we've seen out a few times already this season! ~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: calf, dives, mother, Photon, Rune

Photo of Cajun

Even with heavy fog we can still find whales! We had 2 Humpback whales today, we lost them in the fog a few times, but by being quiet and listening we were able to hear the sound make from their blows. We got some great looks at 2 very LARGE adults. One was a female named Cajun, who had a calf last year. Cajun's calf has already been seen up here on the bank this year! That is a great sign. The other adult I have not yet gotten an ID on, but as soon as I do I will post the ID on here. Also I will add a photo of both Cajun and the other whale on this site.

~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: cajun, calf, fog, humpbacks, mother

We had several Humpback whales today! We had a Mother and calf, as well as several juveniles, and a couple other adults, though no one really wanted to show off their ID's by showing us enough of their flukes for the most part. One of the whales we did get a good look at it's fluke but we are still trying to get an ID on it. Once we do we will post the fluke and ID.
~ Naturalist Jackie O'Mara, Photo by Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, flukes, humpbacks, mother

Photo courtesy of Marjorie Burghart.
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Photo by Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother

Labels: calf, Deb, humpbacks, mother

Calf in front of mother, photo by Melissa Rocha

Today's trip took us over lots of the bank in search of whales. We got some great looks at the size difference between and mother and her calf, as well as another humpback whale that was close by.
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, humpbacks, mother

Photo by Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

On today's trip we headed out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and came across several humpback whales and a harbor seal again. We had several individual humpbacks in the area of our boat that we were able to get some great looks at. Also was a mother and calf pair with an escort, and the calf gave us some pretty cool looks at it's size compared to mom. When calf's are born they are between 10-12 feet long and weigh about a ton!

Labels: calf, harbor seal, humpbacks, mother

Photo by Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Today's trip was Phenomenal! Several humpbacks including a mother calf pair with an escort, harbor porpoises, a minke, and even a Harbor seal! We had a whale named Etch-a-sketch again today doing quite a bit of open mouth feeding. At the same time we had several harbor porpoises swimming around the boat. Though the most unusual part was a small harbor seal that was hanging out right next to the boat! Seals can commonly be seen on trips, though usually just for a moment or two, but this little guy was with us for a while. It even swam right down the whole side of the boat checking out everyone on board! Plus we saw one of the first Mother calf pairs of the season. The calf was feeling very curious and came right over next to the boat, rolling around showing off it's stomach and doing some head-stands. Such a great day on the water!

- Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: calf, Etch-a-Sketch, feeding, harbor seal, humpback, humpbacks, mother

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

Today the boat only went out in the morning, but had a great trip! We saw Echo and her calf with Tectonic as an escort. Echo's calf was very active rolling and even tail breached a few times for us.

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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale, mother

Beautiful day on the water- both weather and whale wise. Both trips had mother calf pairs with escorts. We saw Tornado and her calf with Tear as the escort. Echo was with her calf and had Tectonic as their escort. We also spotted Nile, Pepper and Follice.

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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale, mother

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

All 3 trips today gave everyone incredible looks at several humpback whales. Several whales in the area during the afternoon trip were open mouth feeding. One whale in particular was doing a lot of kick feeding, that whale's name is Etch-a-Sketch. During the sunset trip, we were able to see so much breaching from 2 different calves! Crown's and Cajun's. The calves tend to be more active then the adults do. The calves even came right up next to the boat! Trip was great with a beautiful sunset to end it all. Whales that were seen during the day were: Percussion, Rune, Tear, Etch-a-Sketch, Pointpoint, Echo and calf, Crown, and calf, Cajun and calf, and Venom, along with many others that were in the distance.

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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale, mother

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

Trips have been great. The calves are really starting to be bolder in their activites. We are seeing a lot of rolling by them and them starting to fluke! When humpbacks go down on dives they do typically bring their tails or flukes out of the water. Calves being smaller dont need to as much but once they start to gain more weight we do start to see them doing this towards the end of the season. In addition some of the calves did some rolling at the surface, with a few slaps of their flippers. Some of the humpbacks seen during these days: Tectonic, Pipette, Pinpoint, Crown and calf, Cajun, and calf, Etch-a-sketch, Venom, Echo and calf and Jabiru.

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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale

The past few days we have seeing humpbacks mostly on the Bank. Today we had a well known humpback named Pepper, as well as Percussion, Cajun and her calf, and Ravine and her calf. Both calves came over to the boat and were rather playful. Cajun's calf did some breaching and tail lobbing. Tail lobbing is similar to doing a headstand and having it's tail "waving" at the surface.


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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale, mother

The trips today and the past few days have been GREAT! This whole week there have been so many whales in the area, and right next to the boat. They've been moving in rather large groups for humpbacks. On Monday we had several mothers and their calves right next to the boat! There was Ravine, and Crown with their calves. That day we also saw Draco, Fulcrum and Reaper--Reaper was doing some kick feeding!



On August 13 we again had around 20, if not more, humpbacks in the area and most of them doing feeding of some kind, among other activities. The whales encircled the boat giving everyone on board great looks at baleen plates in the animals mouth as well as some breaching! That day we saw Compass and calf, Anchor, Echo and calf, Pipette, Ember, Trident and calf, Tunguska, Draco, Reaper, Firefly and calf, and many more!

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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, humpback whale, mother

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

Fin whale

photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

Humpback whale

On the July 9th trip, we came across a mother and her calf fin whale. Fin whales are a fast whale, and we don't get to usually see them at the surface for a long time, however this calf was putting on quite a show! The calf was rolling on it's side, and even breached right next to the boat!

As if that wasn't enough, we then found two different mother and calf pairs of humpback whales, with the calves breaching non stop! Something we don't get to see that often. One of the calves also came right up next to the boat to give everyone a great look.


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Labels: 2008 Season, calf, fin whale, humpback whale