Today it rained like crazy, but we found some of our favorite whales out on the Bank: Nile and her calf! As we approached, the pair were diving, and the calf did a little roll for us. As the calf began to get more and more curious and check us out, Nile decided to give a big tail breach! The calf quickly moved next to mom, while Nile proceeded to tail breach and slap her fluke a ton! The calf kept on rolling and swimming up next to the boat. It was very exciting behavior, and we were able to get some great looks at both of these whales. After what seemed like ages, Nile tired herself out and the calf calmed down a little, and they went for a dive. We watched them swim a bit more before heading home where the sun finally decided to come out!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist, Photo of Nile

We had a great first day of October on the water! It was a chilly day, and we were able to find some fun whales out on the Bank. Our first whales of the day were a pair of humpbacks traveling quickly. We were able to get some good looks at them, and it was very cool to see these whales moving fast against the wind and waves! We then found an individual whale, that I think was Colt based on a photo from one of our passengers. We saw a few dives from this whale before moving on to a mother and calf pair. Mom did not fluke for us, but based on some other features, we thought that it was Lavalier and her calf. This pair gave us some great looks, with the calf coming very close to the boat several times to check us out, and with mom giving us a big tail breach! While all of this was going on, there were several other humpbacks all around our boat, giving us a lot to look at!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist

We had a gorgeous day today and saw a ton of whales! On our AM trip, we had a few regulars at first: Lavalier and her calf traveling with an escort! This trio treated us to some great looks. Lavalier and the escort went on a few dives, with the little calf trying to keep up with the grown-ups. We then found a pair of humpbacks, one of which was Rune. We only got a quick look at these whales, who were going on very deep dives, before we had to head home. On the way home, however, we spotted a humpback tail breaching and tail lobbing! Taking a few extra minutes to check out this show, we were able to ID this whale as Banyan, who I don't think we've seen yet this season!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist, Photo of Banyan

On our AM trip we came across Alphorn and Freefall. At first, these whales were just hanging out and going on a few dives. After a few looks we began to pull away to explore the Bank a bit more, but just then, Freefall began tail breaching! We quickly turned around to check this behavior out. Freefall put on quite a show, and then Alphorn joined in! We had both of these whales tail breaching and tail lobbing right next to our boat and right next to each other. It was very interesting behavior to watch, and made for a great morning!

~Jackie O'Mara, Naturalist, Photos of Freefall and of Freefall and Alphorn

Our afternoon trip today was awesome!! We got some great looks at a mother and calf pair of humpbacks! We had Fern and her calf. The calf put on a real show for us rolling all around, doing some tail breaches and lobs. The fog lifted a little for us, which allowed us to be able to see much farther than we had been able to in the morning. The calf was being so active which is always a real treat. This year we have a little over 30 mother's and their calves!
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist, photos by Melissa Rocha

Our morning trip, we had a lot of fog, but that didn't stop us from finding some whales! We listened and looked around slowly where a few other boats had said they saw whales earlier, and it paid off! We first came across a mother and her calf, who both did a couple of tail breaches for us, then sadly they went down on a dive and we lost them in the fog. But, we then were able to find another whale, one who we know very well on the boat--a humpback named Etch-a-Sketch! Etch-a-Sketch was born in 1998 to Thalassa, one of Salt's calves. Salt is one of the original humpbacks of Stellwagen Bank. Etch-a-Sketch gave us some really great looks before we had to head back home in the fog.
~ Melissa Rocha, Lead Naturalist, photo Melissa Rocha