Saturday on the Prince of Whales- Newburyport

What a day! I'm not even sure where to start! I guess I should start with the morning trip.

This morning we left Newburyport and headed to where we found tons of fin whales and shearwaters yesterday afternoon. Before we got to where we thought we were going, we found lots of blows from lots of fin whales- at least 13 fin whales were all around, near and far! We moved into a group of 5 of them! Amazing! Fin whales are usually solitary so to find 5 of them together was great! A "picket fence" is what we call lots of fin whales together since their blows resemble the stakes of a white picket fence! Below are two of the whales we saw this morning!

From the fin whales we continued on to a report of more whales a bit of a ways away. Once we finally got there we found several humpback whales in the area and focused our limited time on Skua- the humpback whale pictured below:
Skua, the humpback was bubble feeding- blowing bubbles and coming up with its mouth open, catching the fish!
Skua was also flicking its tail side to side near the surface, and then would, um, relieve itself, leaving a big brown cloud of digested fish behind!

For the afternoon trip, we weren't really sure where to go, since our morning fin and humpback whales were spread pretty far apart. But we chose to go in search of our morning fin whales as the concentration of them was pretty remarkable, and my parents were on the boat so I knew it would be a great afternoon (they always have fantastic trips). As we approached the area we were at in the morning, we found a trio of fin whales which were moving at a pretty good clip. We got a few looks and then continued on to find a humpback named Mudskipper. Muddy is a very nice whale who rarely lifts its tail but we know it by just looking at the rounded dorsal fin. Muddskipper was feeding, blowing bubble clouds similar to what Skua was doing in the morning.

We left Muddy to explore more areas of Jeffreys Ledge. Soon we spotted a blow in the distance. As we approached, we saw that this whale was another humpback with a distinctive floppy dorsal fin. Trident!

Trident has always been a personal favorite of mine. She is a 27-year-old whale who has had at least 8 calves that we know about. Though we don't see her every year, when we do see her, she is always a nice, cooperative, mellow whale.

Trident's fluke

Soon, Trident started to tail lob- slapping her tail on the surface. This happened 19 times according to our fabulous intern Emily's data!

Trident was also flipper slapping- the technical term for when a whale slaps its flipper on the water :)But then, holy moly! We had no idea what we were about to witness...Trident breached close to the boat. Not once, not twice, but 43 times!!! Really! In all my 15 years of watching whales, I've never seen a whale breach that much. And she was still breaching when we had to leave!






As far as whale behaviors go, this is the one that everyone wants to see, and one that National Geographic depicts as the common behavior for this species. But in all honesty, we rarely see whales breach. As I said today, we may see it here and there, but usually a whale jumps when everyone is looking in the opposite direction, or when they are miles away and we just see the giant splash. To have Trident breach over and over was truly remarkable, and something that I am still in awe of, and still smiling about :)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that whale watching is not about quantity- how many whales you saw in one trip. But instead, whale watching is about the quality of the trip- how much time you are able to spend with a whale to really see how whales behave in the wild. Sometimes they are sleeping, or just breathing and diving. Other times they are extremely active. I'm sure that after Trident's display, everyone forgot about Mudskipper and the fin whales we started with, but again, honestly, those sightings are typical looks at whale life. Whales breathe, swim, dive and feed. And every now and then we get really lucky and are treated to the more dramatic life of whales. When we do encounter these amazing sights, even after years of being on the water day after day, I am still in awe at the beauty, power and mystery of whales.

I also want to thank our afternoon passengers. You folks were one of the best crews we have had in a while! As the captain said at the end of the trip, your interest, enthusiasm and involvement were above and beyond our usual crowd. Even before we saw Trident jumping over and over, our deckhands were commenting on how great you were!

A side story- a couple told me today on our way back to the dock that this was their first whale watch, and that they don't need to go ever again because this trip was the best there is! As this was a fantastic trip, and you may never see a whale breach 43 times in a row ever again, you will certainly have other experiences- different of course- that will give you glimpses into the lives of these great whales. So again, please tell your friends and family about today's trip and encourage them to visit the whales soon. This has been a remarkable season so far and each day gets better and better!

In summary, another common question we get asked is "When is the best time to see whales?" My answer: "When my parents are on board!"

Thanks go out to Trident who made this day phenomenal!




Keep in touch!
Join Our Facebook Group | Follow Us On Twitter