Good Evening Fellow Whale Enthusiasts,

Today we boarded the Asteria and headed straight to the southeast corner of Stellwagen Bank, where our sister vessel had reported some whale activity.

Upon arrival we immediately spotted two blows and soon found ourselves in the company of two sleepy humpback whales! We drifted nearby as they took long, slow breaths, gently drifting up and down just below the surface. After a few minutes they slowly lifted their flukes and we were able to identify them as Pleats and Glo-Stick! We already had some suspicions about Pleats’ identity, as she has a series of symmetrical scars along her back from a propeller wound in the past.

Leaving our logging pair behind, we gently made our way toward another group of humpbacks in the distance. The blows seemed to multiply as we approached and before long we were surrounded by numerous pairs and groups of humpbacks and some surprise gray seals! The whales were taking short dives, moving around randomly, and occasionally trumpeting as they surfaced. After a few good looks we were able to identify Greenbean, Eruption, Faceoff, Mend, Woodwind, Campground, Sprinkles, and Skydancer among the fray!

We were treated to many fluking dives and even one close approach, misting all onboard with a spray of whale breath before we carefully made our way out of whale territory and toward home.

A special day on the water!

Until next time,

Linnea, Maria, Martin, and Hannah

Good Evening Fellow Whale Enthusiasts!

This morning we boarded the Asteria for the 10am trip under sunny skies and made our way to the south in search of wildlife!

Arriving in the southeastern portion of Stellwagen Bank, we soon spotted several blows on the horizon, indicating plenty of cetaceans in the area! Easing towards a couple of nearby blows, we found ourselves in the company of two humpback whales! We were able to identify one of the pair as Greenbean! The other remains a mystery.

After observing these whales for a little while as they took steady dives, we drifted closer to another pair of whales- Nile and Eruption! This duo were dozing at the surface, taking steady breaths and bobbing up and down. Before long we spotted some additional wildlife in the area as a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins made a few close approaches near our sleeping pair! After several minutes of steady breaths, both Nile and Eruption arched their backs in synchronized high fluking dives before disappearing below! We even spotted several seals (harbor and gray!) among the whales and dolphins. An already multi-species day was made eve more interesting by the several Lion’s Mane Jellyfish spotted throughout our adventure!

Nile and Eruption soon returned to the surface to continue their nap, intermittently diving below as we drifted farther away. Before departing, we spent a little more time with Greenbean and friend, now joined by a third whale Sprinkles!

Cruising slowly past a raft of gulls, we happily made our way homeward.

Good afternoon,

Under perfectly blue skies, we loaded onto the Aurora ready for an adventurous afternoon on Stellwagen Bank. Early into our trip, we encountered a small pod of harbor porpoises, and not long later, we found a second pod! We watched the second pod for a few minutes before we decided to move on and see what other wildlife was out there.

Our first baleen whale encounter was with a pair of logging humpback whales, one of which we identified as Nile. Both whales were clearly enjoying a peaceful mid-day nap. Before any passengers considered taking a nap of their own (after all, boat naps are the best naps), we decided to explore some other whales nearby. We came across three humpback whales traveling close by each other. We identified two familiar flukes as Skydancer and Greenbean while the third fluke remains a mystery. In the midst of all the whales, we also noticed multiple grey seals bottling and swimming around the area. A few of the seals appeared curious of our boat, and one was especially intrigued by our captain standing by the window of the wheelhouse. It’s always fun when the animals watch us while we watch them! These inquisitive pinnipeds circled and swam under our idling boat several times throughout the trip.

While we watched the whales and seals, a group of four new humpbacks subtly cruised in. This group consisted of A-Plus, Campground, Face-off, and Woodwind. For the majority of our trip, each whale group kept to themselves, although we did notice they stayed relatively close by each other. Just as we were preparing to return to Boston, the calm shifted into excitement! Woodwind suddenly left its group and joined Skydancer’s group. From there, things escalated quickly! The newly formed group began growing by the second, eventually including all nine whales in the area in one MASSIVE social gathering! Unfortunately, we were out of time and couldn’t stick around to see how long the group would last. As we departed the area, one whale rolled over and flipper slapped until we couldn’t see it any longer.

It was an absolutely phenomenal day on the water!

Eman, Aiden, Maddie, and Martin

Good evening Whale Watchers!

Today the Aurora headed east of the Southeast Corner to look for cetaceans! We saw between 8 to 11 humpbacks, about 6 gray seals, a harbor seal, and a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins. The humpbacks were most likely sub-surface feeding as they were blowing bubbles, lunging, and coming up face first. Venom and Draco even swam between the pulpits! We were also able to ID Tau, Campground, and Woodwind. There are so many more IDs to go! It was a great day out on the water!

Flukes up!

Mira, Ibrahim, and Brenna

Hello whale fans!

Today, we boarded the Asteria for the 10 am whale watch and headed to the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank. While getting on the boat, the skies were a bit hazy and gray, but the weather was beautiful out on the Bank, with great visibility and little swell.

Though finding the whales took a little time, once we spotted a blow, many more suddenly appeared! We saw at least eight different humpback whales, including Venom, Mend, Dashdot, A-Plus, Campground, Tau, Draco, and Sprinkles! The trip got some awesome looks at our marine friends, including a variety of behaviors like lobtailing, flipper slapping, trumpeting, and pooping. We were also so lucky to be surrounded by 8-10 Grey Seals, who were very curious about the boat.

All-in-all, with great weather and fantastic whales, it was a fabulous trip!

Madeline, Maria, and Hannah

Hello all,

Today aboard the Aurora, the 12pm whale watch made its way to the southern portion of Stellwagen Bank in search of whales and other marine life.  Our first sighting of the day was an incredibly large basking shark, whose dorsal fin we could see from very far away!  Unfortunately, this shark was rather shy so we continued along to some blows we could see in the distance.  There were humpback whales and seals as far as the eye could see!  We spent time with a group of five humpbacks consisting of Mend, Woodwind, A-Plus, Dashdot, and Campground.  This group popped up next to the boat a few times!  This group was most likely subsurface feeding as they came charging up several times.  They were spending a lot of time at the surface which allowed us to get some great views.  The seals really stole the show as they were incredibly curious of our boat!  One did not mind we were there as it was sprawled out on its back what appeared to be sunbathing.  This silly seal did this for several minutes with both us and the whales close by! As we were heading back home, we noticed a large splash.  This turned out to be a juvenile humpback who breached close to 20 times! This whale also breached very close to the boat too!  This whale also flipper slapped up a storm!  Everyone on board including myself watched in sheer enjoyment, even jumping for joy watching this little whale dazzle.  Unfortunately we had to leave this whale be and head back to Boston, it was an incredible day on the water!