My neighbors and I were discussing my whale watch adventure and one of them kept asking if I saw any pretty black and white whales. I said not, Orca’s don’t come down to our coast.
That night on the news the headline was ORCA SIGHTING OFF CHATHAM, CAPE COD!
Guess that will each me to say we don’t get killer whales around here!
Read more here:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/07/05/fisherman-spots-orcas-off-chatham-rare-sight-for-new-england/X8F0w9iBOXgASgycnWcMBM/story.html
Its the 4th of July weekend and I haven’t done anything that I wanted to do. I thought I had my former housekeeper coming over on Saturday to finish the paint job her son agreed to before he skipped town but she never showed. She finally Texted me late Saturday that she had to work but would come on Monday. I guess since she is from Brazil our 4th of July isn’t that important to her.
I wanted to be here to keep an eye on the painting but I wasn’t going to give up my whole weekend either. Sunday I spent running around with my list of must-haves for the for the Puffin trip. so That just left today.
Capt. John’s posts to Facebook have been filled with successful Whale watching trips…calves, breaching and pods of over 100 whales. Amazing stuff. I decided to try the early trip. Maybe I’d be able to get back before they were all done with the painting.
We were still quite away out from Stellwagon bank when I spotted a blow off out port side. I tapped on the glass for the crew and pointed. I got a nod and few minutes later the naturalist came on the speaker to acknowledge that whale but said he “wasn’t easy to watch” so we’d keep going.
The Captain played Sweet Caroline over the PA and encouraged everyone to sing along. That’s a great way to keep our minds off the whale!
It was probably another 10 minutes when I spotted another blow, then another and wait. there’s another one! Pretty soon We had whales all around us and I stopped counting.
They were surface feeding and bubble net feeding. I had not seen that in years! I took over 100 pictures that I need to go through to share but here are a couple to give you some idea how close they came to the boat.
I’ll share more in another post. Right now I hear the fireworks starting so I need to keep an eye on Rocky. The noise scares him.
This was quite a weekend. Memorial day 2016 ranged from HOT HOT HOT to cool and rainy. Something for everyone.
Saturday was the best day and my original plan was to head to the beach. But after some thought I decided on a whale watch. I figured if it was 90 degrees and the first weekend of the summer that I would be one of many who would be heading to the beach. So Instead I headed to Plymouth and the Captain John Boats.
I stopped for lunch at Cabby Shack where I spotted the wall art quoted in the title.
I just like the whimsy.
Once I had lunch out of the way I headed over to the boat. I was very early but once again I was concerned about summer crowds. Turns out it wasn’t too bad.
If it was 90 degrees on shore the temperature dropped like a stone once we left the harbor. I was glad I brought a warm hoodie. The trip took us the the same place we always seem to end up, the tip of Cape Cod just off Provincetown. There, with the Pilgrim Tower in the background, we spotted out first and only whale of the day.
It was a juvenile humpback. Our Naturalist estimated it was the calves’s first year without its mother. A sighting of such a young animal is rare according to the naturalist. Once the more mature whales arrive you don’t see these “yearlings” so often.
Our “little guy” was very active. He’d surface, cruise then we’d see him “hump” his back, the tail would start up and then there it was, the fluke indicating he was going into a dive. He’s be gone about 5-6 minutes then do it all again.
Here’s the back
There’s the back
He comes the tail
Humpback
And there’s the fluke.
There’s the Tail
What a great day!
As fast as the Real Estate rush began it stopped. I went from working every waking moment to suddenly having time on my hands. I keep thinking there’s something I’ve forgotten to do. There was no gradual slowing down…just slammed one minute and then nothing the next! So with a quiet Sunday staring me in the face I thought a whale watching trip might be in order.
I ordered my ticket online and headed to Plymouth at 11:30. I figured I’d get there early, have some lunch and then line up for boarding. It was a beautiful day, close to 90 degrees and sunny.
A perfect day to be on the water.
The activity at Plymouth Harbor proved my assumption. Traffic was brutal and parking nonexistent. I was very glad I gave myself extra time. I finally parked in the Citizens Bank lot which had been opened up for a fee of $10.00 for the day.
But once underway the hassle was all worthwhile.
We passed Bug light and then Gurnet Point Lighthouse which marks the end of the harbor. We headed out to Stellwagon Bank which is an underwater plateau. These plateaus cause “upwelling” which stirs up the nutrients and makes for rich feeding grounds. It’s also a protected marine sanctuary. One corner of the plateau comes quite close to Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod. It was my guess that this was where we were headed.
The Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown hadn’t quite come into view when I saw something breach and splash. Then others saw it when it happened again. It was so quick none of us knew what we were seeing. Finally the naturalist on board got on the PA and told us we’d just witnessed some tuna jumping! Tuna, I never would have guessed!
A few minutes later we entered the Marine sanctuary and immediate spotted 4 humpback whales . They were an Association not a Pod as Pods are families and these were 4 unrelated whales.
It was the day of the tails.
They’d cruise along on the surface for a bit then dive and all of them liked getting their tail flukes out of the water.
2 of the Whales came right up next to our boat. Of course, I was on the wrong side. Just my luck!
No breaching or flipper slapping today but we got great looks at the tails. The tails besides being so very photogenic are also like fingerprints. Each whale has a different pattern and the scientists have thousands of tail flukes cataloged. I’m sure the photographer on board is sending all of her photos out for identification.
We saw some other whales besides these 4 but they were more distant and these four were happy to stay and play with us so why search for more?
I had a whale of a time!
Last Sunday was father’s day and it was a perfect day, sunny and warm. It was a perfect day for a whale watch. It would be the first of the year for me. The Captain John website was bragging about amazing sightings from whale calves breaching to pods of whales bubble net feeding. I had to get in on the act.
All of the whale watches seem to go to the same place. The difference is how long it takes to get there. They will tell you you’re going to Stellwagen bank, a marine sanctuary. Located between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Maine, is Massachusetts Bay. The bay’s most prominent submerged feature is the kidney-shaped plateau called Stellwagen Bank, which lies at the bay’s eastern edge. But in the last 3 whale watches I’ve been on we’ve never made it to Stellwagen Bank. We’ve been just outside the marine sanctuary near the tip of cape cod. Race Point at the tip of the cape has been a recurring landmark on these trips.
The last 2 trips I went on had last year had minimal activity, mainly finback whales. They are interesting but they aren’t the showmen the humpbacks are.
So I had my fingers crossed that we’d see humpbacks this trip.
The trip started off with a minke whale just cruisin’ on past us. Then we got a look at a finback whale named Blue.
She had tangled with a Provincetown Fast Ferry and the scars from that encounter gave her a distinctive look so she could be identified.
Finally we saw a tail off in the distance. The Captain took off after the diving humpback. Once near where it had disappeared we throttled back and drifted and waited. Everyone watched the water.
Finally there was the blow. The humpback did a series of shallow dives and then there it came, the arched back that precedes the beautiful fluke.
Humpbacks are identified by the markings on the tail flukes and this whale was showing off that gorgeous tail. Pretty soon the naturalist announced that the whale was named Hancock.
We spent the rest of our trip following Hancock around and put on a show he did. There were many deep dives with the traditional tail flukes which never fails to please. Each time he did that the crowd on board exploded into applause and cheers.
But the finale was a waving splashing dive that sent rainbow spray flying .
The naturalist said she had never seen anything like that!
The ride back was quiet. Everyone seemed tired from the sea and sun and excitement of the Hancock the Humpback Show.
