We left Provincetown on May 29th with light rain and calm seas. We saw a diversity of marine life, with 17 humpbacks, 1 mink whale, 1 harbor seal and 5 gray seals! Many of the humpbacks appeared to be young, possibly juvenile whales. It is common for juvenile humpbacks to appear on the feeding grounds […]
Pelagic bird watching continues to be good despite that we are in the time of year when many of the winter-time seabirds have moved on to summer grounds and summer-time birds have not arrived in any substantial numbers. Through mid to late May we’ve seen Bonaparte’s gulls, Glaucous gulls and Iceland gulls. The Bonaparte’s were […]
May 20th was a great day to be out on the water with bright skies, low winds and calm seas. Within moments of leaving the harbor we sighted a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins consisting of 40-70 related individuals. As we traveled out towards Stellwagen Bank we found various individual humpbacks that were going […]
On May 12th we sailed out of Provincetown harbor with ideal conditions—clear skies, light wind and glassy calm seas. We saw a diversity of life with 1-2 finback whales, 1 gray seal, 24+ humpback whales and 100-175 Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Among our humpbacks were Dome, Backgammon, Pipette, Nazka, Orbit, Rapier and calf, Sockeye, Bolide and […]
On May 7th we set out to Cape Cod Bay with gray skies and moderate seas. Within moments of leaving the harbor we found ourselves in the middle of a feeding frenzy as 5 humpback whales were kick and lung feeding around our boat. We identified Grackle, Walrus and Fulcrum. Fulcrum can be easily identified […]
On May 2nd we sailed out to Cape Cod Bay excited to see what the day had in store. Our first sighting was 6 harbor seals that were hauled out on Long Point. Shortly after leaving the harbor seals, we came across various cetaceans, including 13 humpbacks, 5 fin whales, 5-6 North Atlantic right whales […]
On April 25th the skies were clear and the wind was moderate. We didn’t travel far before we had our first marine mammal sighting, a harbor seal that was resting on Long Point. Unlike whales, seals are semi-aquatic, meaning that they spend time on land and in the sea. Seals are frequently sighted resting on […]
April 18 is cloudy and gray and we hope as we head out of the harbor that it will clear. Today the harbor is dotted with with eider ducks–ducks that spend almost all of their lives on or in the water. They feed primarily during the day, and at low tide, avoiding strong winds and […]
After a long winter it is finally time to board the Dolphin VIII and head into Cape Cod Bay to see the whales we have been watching from shore since March. Saturday dawns cold and wet- but that did not deter us from our first whale watch of the 2009 season. Our first sighting was […]
In April, our whale watching season started with a bang. Drawn by reports of record numbers of North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay in late winter, people flocked to Provincetown in droves to try to catch a glimpse of these endangered behemoths, whose V-shaped spouts could often be seen from Herring Cove and […]
