Mon Sept 8 – Whale Watching
Our last scheduled trip was another success!!
We headed out on the Viking Star looking forward to another fascinating trip on a day with unlimited visibility and brisk NW wind. The seas were fine as we headed westward towards where we’d been seeing juvenile humpback whales feeding on Atlantic Menhaden. It wasn’t long before we were joined by 60 or more Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins. We saw menhaden pods and we saw the blow of a humpback whale seen and photographed by our senior scientist, Dr. Artie Kopelman, 2 days earlier. This poor whale had deep healed gashes on the trailing edge of its right fluke, something we see too often. This whale was diving for about 3-5 minute, most likely feeding on the sand eels patchily distributed in and around the sea floor. 2 days prior, this young whale never lifted its fluke completely, so identifying this whale was difficult. Now we have photos of the ventral surface of its fluke, as well as the right and left sides of its dorsal fin.
1 humpback whale
50-75 Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins
1 Immature Northern Gannet
5 Cory’s Shearwaters
5 Great Shearwaters
2 Wilson’s Storm Petrels
Dr. McNamara and I want to thank:
- The captains and crew of the Viking Fleet vessels (Captain David Marmeno, Captain JR Gibson, and Captain Carl Forsberg; mates John, Paulie, Arlo, Igor; and Pete).
- We want to also thank all the Viking Fleet Office personnel, and other Captains and mates who always provide support and encouragement.
- A massive shout-out to the 65 volunteers who completed training and worked diligently. We ever-indebted to their good work and support. None of this would be possible without their help
- Our colleagues at the Center for Coastal Studies (https://coastalstudies.org), and Happywhale (https://happywhale/com), for their sage knowledge and assistance in photo-identification.
- Finally, a massive thank you to passengers AND to our respective families for their support as well