We were finally able to make it out to the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary on Sunday after being walloped by torrential downpours, strong wind and high seas from a persistent low-pressure system hanging off the east coast all weekend. There was widespread dense fog during the entire morning trip and we didn’t see much, but the afternoon more than made up for it… What a fantastic trip! We saw 18 different Humpback whales (including a mother and her calf) and one Fin whale.

Some of the whales ID’d by the naturalists aboard the Privateer IV included:

Tear, Thread, Salt, Cardhu, Geometry, Pinpoint, Ravine, Milkweed, Firefly, Percussion, Pele, Apex and calf, Conflux, Trident, Rune, and Coral.

I witnessed my first breach (by Apex’s calf), but was just a hair too slow with my trigger finger to capture it completely. It happens so damn fast – I would equate it to trying to figure out where lightning is going to strike in a wide open field. Oh well. Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you. There’s always the next trip

The first fluke of the afternoon was a jaw dropping experience for me, because I knew right away that it was “Pinpoint” from my trip last year. I couldn’t believe that a full year had elapsed.  Here was the same whale - back in almost the exact same spot, almost to the exact day, feeding and getting ready to head south again to the Carribean for the winter. These migratory patterns, instinctive behaviors and repeating cycles of nature continue to astonish me. I am hopful that Pinpoint and I will be able to meet again for years to come. Simply amazing.

Many thanks to the crew of the Privateer IV (owned and operated by the 7 Seas Whale Watch company) and Mr. Oktay Kaya, whom I had the pleasure of chatting with for a few minutes on the way out to the Bank. Hope to see you all soon!