Whale Sightings 7/30/24 to 8/3/24. Please find the Naturalist Notes for the week of 7/30/24 to 8/3/24 from the onboard team of naturalists for our New England Whale Watching tour in partnership with the New England Aquarium.
7.30.24
12:00pm Whale Watch Sightings
Good evening everyone,
Aboard the Aurora this afternoon we set out for the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank. Upon reaching our destination, we stumbled upon three humpback whales! Conflux and Tripod were spending a lot of time together and showing off their massive size during several close approaches. Sanchal was in the area as well, and despite diving for extended periods of time, she gave us some great looks at her beautiful fluke. We were greeted by several minke whales throughout our trip as well! What a cool multi-species trip!
Best,
Allie, Abby, and Aryn
7.31.24
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Hello!
Today on board the Sanctuary we made our way towards the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank in search of whales! We were stopped on our journey by a small pod of dolphins that quickly made our way past the boat. Upon arriving we spotted a blow out in the distance that turned out to be a Fin Whale! This whale was taking some long dives and we also saw two Humpback whales out in the distance. One gave us a look at its fluke before making its way out of the area. We also saw another fin whale out in the distance briefly before continuing our search. We then spotted blows from two more Humpback whales and made our way forwards. These whales were taking very long dives, and we were able to get some quick looks before we had to make our way back towards Boston. Passengers were issued rainchecks due to a lack of sightings for a chance to come back on another day.
Whales are awesome and so are you!
Kaitlyn, Allie, Sarah, and Nitya
2:30pm Whale Watch Sightings
Good afternoon everyone,
Heading out towards the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank, we were hoping to discover some whales and other marine wildlife! We came across a blow that caught our attention off in the distance. When our whale surfaced again, we were surprised to find three humpback whales in this area! We had a group of two, Tripod and Conflux, and a singular whale, Sanchal! Despite going on long dives, we got some excellent looks at these whales fluking, and even got a surprise close approach by our duo! What a great afternoon!
Best,
Allie, Sarah, and Nitya
8.1.24
12:00pm Whale Watch Sightings
Good afternoon everyone,
Aboard the Aurora this afternoon we ventured to the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank. Before reaching our destination, we spotted three basking sharks! One of these sharks had a very floppy dorsal and swam right alongside our vessel for some fantastic looks. After these sharks disappeared, we soon spotted some blows in the distance! We were first greeted by a small humpback whale, Viola, who popped up near our vessel before going back down on a dive. A pair, Sanchal and Tongs, appeared as well, who were very curious about our vessel! These whales completely changed direction while at the surface and came right over to our port side before diving underneath us! After this special experience, we unfortunately had to head back to Boston. However, we were greeted by a small pod of Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins! These dolphins swam around our vessel for quite some time, and even had some very cute young calves with them as well!
Best,
Allie, Haley-June, and Bentley
8.2.24
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Hello Whale Watchers,
This morning the Sanctuary boarded the 10am whale watch eager to find whales and other wildlife. As we headed towards the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, we were quickly greeted by two small pods of harbor porpoises, one pod after the other, breaking the surface of the water and disappearing quickly. As we continued, we were almost immediately again stopped by a massive basking shark! This shark spent quite a bit of time up at the surface, and we got amazing looks from all sides of our vessel as it appeared to be feeding with its large mouth open and swimming calmly. After it disappeared into the ocean, we carefully kept traveling on and were happy to see a few spouts in the distance! We spent time watching two separate humpback whales. These whales seemed to be taking long dives, giving us some amazing looks at their beautiful flukes. We were later able to identify the individuals as Tongs and Milkweed. We then spotted an ocean sunfish at the surface of the water! For a moment we thought it had disappeared, but then it breached right next to our vessel! This ocean sunfish stayed at the surface long enough for all of our passengers to get some great looks at it basking it the sunlight. At this point, we thought that our day couldn’t get any better, and that is when we spotted a beak breaking the surface, which belonged to a leatherback sea turtle. It’s not often we see leatherbacks on Stellwagen Bank, so this was a special opportunity for everyone on board to see another amazing animal that is an extremely important part of our ocean ecosystem! As is started to become time to point our bow back towards Boston, we came across three more humpback whales! Two of these whales we were able to later identify as Pitcher and Wyoming. It was a truly remarkable experience on the water!
Flukes Up!
Ilana, Linnea and Chelseigh
2:30pm Whale Watch Sightings
Hello Whale Watchers,
In the afternoon, the 2:30pm trip boarded a group of eager passengers, and we made our way back towards the Southwest Corner of Stellwagen Bank, once again with hopes of similar luck in spotting for whales and other marine wildlife. As we reached closer to our destination, we spotted the blow of a humpback whale in the distance! This whale gave passengers some looks at a few high fluking dives as we watched it from a distance. Suddenly, closer to our vessel, a small pod of elusive harbor porpoises appeared in front of our bow! Shortly after they disappeared, we were lucky to spot another dorsal fin breaking the surface, a basking shark, which was gracefully traveling along with our boat! As we carefully maneuvered out of the immediate area, we found ourselves in the presence of three distinctive blows, two closer to us, and a third farther away from us. The two whales we were closer to appeared to be two humpback whales known as Wyoming and Sanchal! Both whales seemed to be going on very consistent long dives, surfacing for only a few breaths before diving back down. We got some great looks at these whale’s dorsal fins and their beautiful fluke patterns as they were within our immediate area. As we began to start making our way back towards Boston, a few of us spotted a minke whale! It is always exciting and special when we see multiple species on our whale watching trips.
What an absolutely exceptional day to be exploring the wildlife on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary!
Flukes Up!
Ilana, Linnea and Chelseigh
8.3.24
10:00am Whale Watch Sightings
Hello!
Today on board the Sanctuary for the 10am trip we made our way towards the Southwest Corner in search of whales! As we were making our way there, we came upon a basking shark at the surface which was a great start to our trip! Passengers got some great looks at the shark before we continued our search for whales. We then quickly spotted three blows in the distance from Pleats, Spell, and Warrior! These whales were moving around in the area with nice tall fluking dives which gave us great looks at their tails. These whales then continued and even showed us some lunging as they were feeding. The highlight of the trip was when Pleats suddenly erupted in a full body breach out of the water! It was surprise to everyone on board and Pleats got some great height coming out of the water right in front of our vessel. We continued to watch these three whales for the rest of our trip. Warrior separated from the pair of Pleats and Spell and went out of the area with the pair remaining. We ended our trip with two more surprise breaches from Pleats as well as some lobtailing before we had to head back to Boston.
Whales are awesome and so are you!
Kaitlyn, Chelseigh, and Bentley
12:30pm Whale Watch Sightings
Hello!
On the 2:30pm trip the Sanctuary once again made its way towards the Southwest Corner. We passed by another basking shark on our way before continuing forward in search of whales. After some searching, we came across a blow from a whale who was identified as Ravine! Ravine was taking some long dives as she traveled around the area. Passengers got great looks at Ravine’s fluke as she made some beautiful and tall fluking dives. We got one last look at Ravine’s fluke before making our way back towards Boston. It was a spectacular day out on the bank!
Whales are awesome and so are you!
Kaitlyn, Chelseigh, and Bentley
Boston Whale Watching: Naturalist Notes – 7/30/24 to 8/3/24