Yankee Whale Watching Blog

August 8/14

tomconley — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:16:46 +0000

Great weather and great sightings!

Fulcrum and her calf enjoyed the warm weather by flipper flapping on the surface and rolling around. A variety of other humpbacks enjoyed the weather joined by several minkes as well. Another perfect day at sea!

Pictures from 8/9:

August 7 and 8

tomconley — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:56:48 +0000

8/7
A gorgeous day brought us through a couple of minke whales to 12 Humpback Whales; including Lavalier and calf, music, and infinity. Several Humpback Whales spent the afternoon logging (napping) and others traveled in a group of 5- a relatively rare behavior.

8/8
Another day of good weather brought us to 11 Humpback Whales searching for food and resting in the warm sun. A mother and calf enjoyed the nice day to rest and for the calf to feed.

July 18

tomconley — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:41:43 +0000

Taking just a short ride north to Jeffrey’s Ledge we quickly were surrounded by Humpback Whales!

A group of 5 Humpback Whales were open mouth feeding as we arrived. We continued to watch 14 more whales move through the area. Weather and whale watching turned out great. A great day for everyone!

Jessica

July 15

tomconley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:15:49 +0000

A rather long travel brought us down near Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod, but it was certainly worth the trip! The whales have found large amounts of food and displayed a variety of feeding behaviors including kick feeding and bubble nets. For a long time, five humpback whales were feeding together - all rising with mouths full of food. At times there where 10 whales around the boat feeding and diving. One whale decided to have a little fun and breached three times right near the boat.

July 11

tomconley — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:34:39 +0000

A beautiful late afternoon ride took us straight to breaching whales! We first found Nile and her calf enjoying the waves - flipper flapping, tail slapping, and breaching. We then found another whale continuously breaching for a good ten minutes! What a serene moment to be alone with these magnificent creatures, it seemed we had them all to ourselves, as the other vessels have long since headed to port. As we moved on towards home, we watched several more whales breaching. A great way to end a great afternoon.

July 6

tomconley — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:17:17 +0000

Starting out foggy, the fog cleared as we reached the bank. The fish have returned to the area after last week’s storm and birds swarmed everywhere feasting. A great day for bird watchers as we saw a variety of gulls, shearwaters, and storm petrels. The whales joined into this feeding. We saw Cajun, Pinpoint, and Cavalier and her calf all feeding on the sand eels. Some great views of wide mouth feeding and kick feeding right next to the boat. We saw several more humpbacks in the distance and a variety of different fin whales and minkes also enjoying the new feed. It turned out to be a gorgeous, clear day.

July 5

tomconley — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:11:54 +0000

Great weather for another great day of whale watching. We saw a variety of birds throughout the trip, including gulls,shearwaters,and comorants. There were Fin whales swimming along side as we headed out. We found a large number of Humpback whales, including Cajun (for a third day in a row)and Filament. The whales spent a long time deep diving for food allowing some great fluke shots. We also saw a mother and calf enjoying the feast. Another great find for an excellent trip

Whale Sightings 2009

tomconley — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:38:41 +0000

The outlook for 2009 is excellent! We have been seeing abundant whales everyday, even on many of our All Day Fishing trips. The amount of bait fish that we see out there is also a great sign. Thankfully, the weather is getting nice, we hope to see you out there with us.

Yankee Whale Watching - August 23rd, 2008

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:01:53 +0000

What can I say? This may be one of the best whale watch seasons we’ve ever had! Each day continues to rival the previous days just in number of whales sighted. I still think we have some of the best passengers too; you all have been great and so wonderful to spend time with!
I want to start this report with a bird-watcher update. We’ve seen increasing numbers of Greater Shearwaters and a fair number of Sooty Shearwaters too. We see and HEAR the squawking of Common Terns everyday now, along with Wilsons Storm-petrels that dance on the water picking up their food. Of course, you all know that the Northern Gannets are my favorite and 10 to 12 juveniles gave us an impressive show of dive-bombing for Sand Launce on August 12th!

Now, on to the whales! Fin Whale sightings have been sparse lately and I’ve had reports from other organizations that a number of them are feeding north of Stellwagen Bank on Jeffrey’s Ledge. Minke Whales come and go as usual, but the Humpback Whales continue to make every single day exciting. Here’s what we’ve had:

August 11, 2008
3 to 4 Minke Whales, 1 Fin Whale, and 12 to 15 Humpback Whales including, Draco, Pinpoint, Echo and her calf, Lavalier, and Fulcrum. All feeding!

August 12, 2008
3 to 4 Minke Whales and 10 to 15 Humpback Whales including Alphorn, Valley, Anchor, Firefly and calf, Tornado and calf, and Scylla. Feeding and sharing the haul with the birds too!

August 13, 2008
1 Minke Whale, 3 Fin Whales, and 21 to 25 Humpback Whales including Pipette, Tunguska, Rune, Leukos and calf, Echo and calf, Apex, Nile, Pepper, Draco, Geometry, Tornado and calf, Anchor, and Filament. Yeay!!!

August 14, 2008
Afternoon Trip: 20 to 24 Humpback Whales including Apostrophe, Crown and calf, Nile, Draco, Etch-A-Sketch, Pinpoint, Pixar, Apex, Lavalier, Trident and calf, Tornado and calf, and Jabiru.

Special Evening Trip: 2 Minke Whales and 16 Humpback Whales!

August 16, 2008
1 Minke Whale and 17 to 20 Humpback Whales including, Crown and calf, Perseid, Tornado and calf, Milkweed, Nile, Cajun and calf, Swimmer, Apex, and Pele.

August 17, 2008
23 to 25 Humpback Whales including, Alpha, Zeppelin, Echo and calf, Rune, Cajun and calf, Bandit, Percussion, Tectonic, Crown and calf, Firefly and calf, Tornado and calf, Apex, Milkweed, and Ravine and her calf.

August 18, 2008
1 Minke Whale and 12 to 15 Humpback Whales including Geometry, Ravine and calf, Infinity, Cajun and calf, and Milkweed.

August 19, 2008
19 to 20 Humpback Whales including Nile, Pepper, Perseid, Tear, Percussion, Crown and calf, Ravine and calf, and Etch-A-Sketch.

August 20, 2008
1 to 2 Minke Whales and 9 to 11 Humpback Whales including, Pinch, Black Knight, Plateau, Percussion, and Pinpoint.

August 21, 2008
3 to 4 Minke Whales, 1 Fin Whale, and 11 to 13 Humpback Whales including, Pinch, Pinpoint, Etch-A-Sketch, and Percussion.

August 22, 2008
12 to 14 Humpback Whales including, Pinpoint, Echo and calf, Tectonic, Venom, Crown and calf, and Trident and calf.

August 23, 2008
2 Minke Whales and 11 to 13 Humpback Whales including, Crown and calf, Cajun and calf, Tear, and Pinch.

WOW, the past couple weeks have been incredible! Whale watching is sailing everyday. Trip times are Monday - Friday 1:30-5:30 and weekends 2:30-6:30. Reservations are suggested so give us a call at 1-800-942-5464 or click below for online tickets. Don’t miss this phenomenal season!

It’s a whale world,
Jodi Sivak
Lead Naturalist

Yankeee Whale Watching - September 7, 2008

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:46:36 +0000

The past couple weeks have been interesting. We’ve had ups and downs with the weather, and ups and downs with the sightings as well. Our days continued to be incredible for the beginning of this reporting period, as you’ll see in the daily detail below. But then something changed, seemingly overnight. Oftentimes, a major weather system will shift the ocean currents, which shifts the nutrients and bait fish in the water. That, in turn, shifts the whales because the whales will go where the food is. Typically, this is a gradual thing occurring over a couple days or so, other times it is like someone flipping a switch. I wish I could dive on the Bank when this happens, or that we could record various conditions throughout the water column on a daily basis. I’d love to know what changed and the exact conditions that trigger distribution shifts of large whales throughout the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

After a few days of the slow-down, things got back to normal with blows in every direction and a lot of fantastic Humpback sightings! Just when it was getting exciting, Tropical Storm Hanna arrived and created high winds and high seas. Safety is paramount at Yankee Fleet and we decided it best to stay in the past few days, also fending off queasiness for our passengers! Now I’m itching to get back out there on Stellwagen Bank and see what affect this recent weather system has had on the bait fish and the whales.

The bird sightings over the past couple weeks have been up and down as well, further indicating that the bait fish were shifting with changing ocean currents. On the best days, we’re still seeing the usual suspects including Juvenile Northern Gannets, Greater Shearwaters, a few Sooty Shearwaters here and there, Common Terns, Wilson’s Storm Petrels, and both the Herring and Black-Backed Gulls.

Aug 24 2008
7-9 Minkes, and 10-12 Humpbacks including Lavalier, Venom, Tear, Etch-A-Sketch, and Pinch.

Aug 26 2008
12 Humpbacks including Nile, Pepper, Percussion and an unknown that breached a few times on our way in!

Aug 27 2008
6-7 Minkes, and 11 Humpbacks including Anchor, Blackout, Komodo, Lavalier, Fulcrum, Etch-A-Sketch, and Pinpoint.

Aug 28 2008
1 Minke, and 9-11 Humpbacks including Nile, Pepper, Echo and calf, Anchor, and Gimlet. One of the Humpbacks breached over 18 times!

Aug 29 2008
4-5 Minkes, and 5 Humpbacks including Anchor, Lavalier, and Etch-A-Sketch.

Aug 30 2008
Gray Seal in Gloucester’s Inner Harbor! Superpod of 250-300 Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins! 3 Minkes, and 5 Humpbacks including Lavalier, Jabiru, and Etch-A-Sketch (who reportedly moved over 6 miles away from where we spotted her in just over one hour). Other Humpbacks sighted last week reportedly much further south on the Bank the past few days.

Aug 31 2008
3-4 Minkes, 7 Humpbacks that were taking very long dives (4 of which never showed a fluke and remain unidentified) including Echo and calf, and Tectonic. 4-5 other Humpbacks reported a couple miles away.

Sept 1 2008
1 Minke, and 10-11 Humpbacks including Tectonic, Echo and calf, Lavalier, Anchor, Percussion, Jabiru, Rune, and Colt.

Sept 3 2008
1 Minke, 11-13 Humpbacks including Echo and calf, Tectonic, Draco and Percussion.

Whale watching is sailing everyday through October. Trip times are Monday thru Friday 1:30-5:30 and weekend afternoons (call for times). Reservations are suggested so give us a call at 800-942-5464 or click below for online tickets. Come out and join us before this incredible season comes to an end!

It’s a whale world,
Jodi Sivak
Lead Naturalist