Whale Sightings 10/25/22 to 10/30/22 Please find the Naturalist Notes for the week of 10/25/22 to 10/30/22 from the onboard team of naturalists for our New England Whale Watching tour in partnership with the New England Aquarium.  

 

10-25-22

10am Whale Watch Sightings

Good afternoon,

Under heavy fog, the 10am whale watch headed out on the Asteria towards the northern section of Stellwagen Bank. With limited visibility, we were ecstatic to find two humpback whales after a bit of searching! We spotted the duo – Crossbeam and the ever-reliable Dross. This pair was taking very lazy fluking dives, and we got to watch these animals as they slowly swam through the area. Dross and Crossbeam slowed down towards the end of our trip and began to log – giving us some fantastic looks at these sleepy whales. We finished up our trip after Crossbeam started to wake up and “stretch” – poking his rostrum out of the water.

Kate and Chelsea

 

10-29-22

10am and 2:30pm Whale Watch Sightings

Good evening,

With a hearty group of passengers, the 10am whale watch headed out on the Asteria​​​​ towards the northern section of Stellwagen Bank. We quickly spotted multiple blows, and first spent our time with the A-Plus, Spoon, and Sword. These whales alternated between resting at the surface and lazily swimming – and at times seemed curious of our boat! On numerous occasions the whales swam right at us or would surface right next to our vessel. Today’s water visibility was utterly fantastic, and we truly got some amazing looks at these lovely humpbacks. We could follow these whales as they traveled underwater and were able to see the entirety of their body. We then moved on to the duo Crossbeam and Dross, who also seemed curious of our vessel – with Dross even spy-hopping right off our pulpits!

The 2:30 whale watched returned to the northern section of Stellwagen Bank and found our trio of A-Plus, Spoon, and Sword. The group had woken up a bit and were diving and traveling more consistently. They still were attentive of our vessel and repeatedly surfaced off the sides of our boat.  Towards the end of the trip, Sword began to distance himself from the other two – surfacing farther away from the pair while trumpeting. Sword even tail breached at one point! Towards the end of the trip, it seemed like Sword may have split up with A-Plus and Spoon, and we finished our time with the remaining two.

Kate and Liza

 

10-29-22

12pm Whale Watch Sightings

Happy Saturday Whale Watchers,

Today the Aurora headed to the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank in search of wildlife. As we arrived, we spotted several blows ahead of us. We ended up with a trio of Humpback Whales, named Spoon, Sword and A-Plus. These whales were taking it easy at the surface, likely resting (known as logging) next to us. At one point this stopped briefly, as A-Plus rolled over and started flipper slapping right next to us! After she settled down, the trio took a dive, with Spoon dramatically lifting her tail high into the air! When they resurfaced, Spoon and A-Plus resumed resting while Sword took some short dives. At one point, Sword slowly glided to the surface right next to us, making the trio complete once again. A-Plus rolled over and did another quick bout of flipper slapping, then Spoon decided to join in and did some impressive flipper slapping, lifting her enormous flipper high into the air! It seems as though this woke them all up, and they all arched their backs and took a final beautiful dive! With our time almost spent, we said goodbye to our trio and headed back to Boston. It was a great day on the water!

Until Next Time!

David & Olivia

 

10-30-22

10am and 2:30pm Whale Watch Sightings

Hello all,

Today aboard the Asteria, the 10am whale watch made its way towards the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank in search of whales and other marine life.  We started on a humpback whale named Nine who did a quick tail breach!  Nine was taking very long dives so we decided to carry on in our search.  We then spotted a pair of blows in the distance.  This turned out to be a pair of humpback whales consisting of Dross and Crossbeam.  These two were logging at the surface and were taking short dives so we were able to get some awesome looks at them.  They even came up right next to the boat a few times!  Eventually Crossbeam woke up and started flipper slapping!  Eventually this pair settled back into their nap which meant it was time for us to head back to Boston.

The 230pm whale watch made its way out towards the same area in hopes of similar success as the first trip.  We started on a very large pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins who were spending a lot of time at the surface and some were even porpoising!  After some cool looks at the dolphins we made our way over to a trio of humpbacks consisting of Dross, Crossbeam and Chromosome.  Dross was up to her similar slow moving behavior as this morning, but Crossbeam and Chromosome were on a mission.  These two were coming up very quickly and forcefully very close to each other.  Sometimes the two would trumpet blow when they came up.  Eventually, another humpback named Orion joined the group and things got really interesting.  Now Orion, Chromosome, and Crossbeam were blowing bubbles, trumpeting, and coming up each time very forcefully.  Dross even started to pick up the pace.  We got really lucky when the group popped up right next to the boat a few times!  Passengers and crew were amazed with the activity!  After some great looks at our group we had to head back to Boston.  It was a really amazing day out on the water!

Until next time,

Colin, Maddie, and Emily

 

 

More Images from This Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boston Whale Watching: Naturalist Notes – 10/25/22 to 10/30/22