Today was our first trip in a few days, since we've had some not-so-great weather here in New England lately. But it turned out to be a nice, sunny day! We found yet another mom and calf humpback pair out on the Bank. Mom didn't fluke for us, so we were not sure who it was, but they put on a great show nonetheless. At first, this pair was going on some very long dives, but then it seemed that the calf got tired of diving. It opted to hang out at the surface with us while mom dove some more. The calf was feeling a little playful and began rolling and flipper slapping, with mom coming up from dives every now and then. The light worked in such a way that we could see the calf rolling around under the water! We also got some great looks at this little whale's belly as it floated on it's back!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

Labels: flipper slapping, humpback, mother and calf, rolling

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, flipper slapping, humpbacks, mother, Tulip

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

Labels: dolphins, flipper slapping, Nile, tail lobbing

Labels: 2009 Season, Banyan, flipper slapping, Nile, tail lobbing

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

On our afternoon trip we came across several humpbacks! We saw a couple of them swimming by themselves and a couple in pair groups with one on the whales breaking off from one group to join another! We got some great looks at Alphorn traveling with another whale, but then broke off and joined up with Pipette, and Banyan. We then saw a whale doing some flipper slapping a little ways away and went to try and get some looks, but this whale seemed to be a little shy and would stop when we got close. As we kept waiting and hoping the whale would do some more flipper slapping we saw another whale in the distance do a tail breach. Then our flipper slapping whale came up close by and was joined by Pipette, Alphorn, and Banyan. The flipper slapping whale turned out to be a whale named I.T. Such a great afternoon on the water with so many whales!
~Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: Alphorn, Banyan, flipper slapping, I.T., Pipette

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

Our afternoon trip today was one of the best ever! We saw a few different whales all around but decided to go and try to get some looks at two that were active on the surface. This turned out to be the greatest idea ever! We had 2 humpback whales, one adult Glo-Stick, and another one that was slightly smaller probably only a few years old. Well Glo-Stick, decided to put on a real show for us! Swimming right next to the boat and flipper slapping! Now Glo-Stick also then did some tail lobbing, which is like a head stand only waving it's tail around the surface. Now Glo-Stick was so close to us, that several passengers on the first deck got wet from all the splashing! How cool for everyone on board! The other whale with Glo-Stick was hanging close by but not as active. Beautiful day on the water and a great day for up close pictures of whales!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: flipper slapping, Glo-Stick

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

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

A few more photos.~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: flipper slapping, humpbacks, sunset

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

Photos courtesy of Gabriela Jürgensen
See more photos taken by visitors and upload your own here.

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

Today we had 2 humpbacks and a fin whale! The fin whale is the second largest whale. One of our humpbacks was a juvenile only a couple of years old, and was very active at the surface. The whale was doing a ton of flipper slapping which is when the whale rolls on it's side and uses it's large pectoral flippers to slap the surface of the water. Normally humpbacks in the Atlantic have pectoral flippers that are white on the top and bottom half but every once and a while we have one that looks more like the Pacific humpbacks, having black on the top and white on the bottom like our whale today. Such great looks!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist

Labels: fin whale, flipper slapping, humpbacks

Photo by naturalist Melissa Rocha

First Trip of the 2009 season!!! We had an amazing trip today! Seas were a little bumpy but none the less, we found two really cool humpback whales. One of the whales was a regular on Stellwagen Bank, Owl. Owl was hanging out with another adult whale that but on a show for us by flipper slapping and even tail breached for us! A great start to the 2009 season.

-Melissa Rocha, Naturalist

Labels: 2009 Season, flipper slapping, humpback, owl, tail breaching

photo by Naturalist Melissa Rocha

Whales have been super active the last few days, and today was no different. On the morning trip we had one animal breaching nonstop! Then we found Crown and her calf with Tear doing some rolling and flipper slapping right next to the boat! Then Jabiru decided to do the same, but wanted to show off it's breaching skills and did some full and chin breaches for us. In the afternoon we saw Tear again but this time with a different mother calf pair. So many whales out and active today. Scanning the horizon we saw several other blows and breaches further out, even a double breach in the distance.


photo by Naturalist Melissa Rocha

The best part was we got to see some Atlantic White Sided Dolphins!! They were hanging out with a few of the humpbacks.

subscribe

Labels: 2008 Season, dolphins, flipper slapping, humpback whale, rolling

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