26 September– Saturday was bright with light southwesterly winds. Leaving the harbor and heading towards Long Point, our captain spotted a whale near the Truro shore. Looking through binoculars the whale was identified as a North Atlantic right whale, a rare sighting this time of year. Numbering less than 390 remaining in the world, it […]
19 September– Trips cancelled due to high seas 20 September-Sunday morning was bright with light winds as we left Provincetown harbor. We traveled to the triangle, east of Stellwagen Bank, where we sighted several humpback whales. In the morning, the humpbacks were deep diving, but the calves of Apex and a new, unnamed mother were […]
12 September– Trips cancelled due to high seas 13 September–Sunday morning was overcast with offshore fog and choppy seas. We traveled to the southeast corner of Stellwagen Bank, where despite foggy conditions, we sighted Minke and humpback whales. In the morning, the humpbacks were surface feeding on krill, a small, shrimp-like marine animal. Krill are […]
These past two weeks have again been punctuated by winds strong enough to shut down trips on a regular basis. The wind has been an ongoing issue this past month now… The autumn’s jaegers have been great: Pomarine, Parasitic and Long-tailed have all been sighted over these weeks. Jaegers are notoriously difficult to differentiate between […]
On September 5th we began the day by heading out to the Triangle, an area just east of Stellwagen Bank. In less than an hour into the trip, we encountered Tulip and her calf. Tulip is a humpback named for the Tulip-shaped marking on her right fluke. Today, we watched as her calf, who […]
Bird Watching Notes by John C. Conlon As we are coming around the end of August and through the first week of September the weather has been spectacular though we have had a few windy days including wind and swell action from the eastern quarter. For the most part though the skies through the latter […]
29 August– Hurricane Daniel. All trips cancelled. 30 August– Hurricane Daniel. High seas- all trips cancelled. 31 August– After two days on shore it is finally time to board the Dolphin VIII and venture out into the Atlantic. While the skies are bright and sunny and the wind minimal, there is a remaining swell from […]
August 22nd: With all of the news of Hurricane Bill brewing off-shore, only 73 people were brave enough to come aboard the morning trip on the Portuguese Princess II. Although the wave height was under three feet, we could feel the swell slowly building throughout the trip. We headed eastward, against the swell, and found […]
On August 15th, morning haze gave way to clearer visibility for the afternoon trips. We headed toward the triangle, an area east of Stellwagen Bank where we frequently encounter several species of large baleen whale. Upon arriving in the triangle, we found ourselves surrounded by at least 12 to 15 humpbacks, scattered within a mile […]
On August 8th we sailed out beyond Stellwagen Bank with bright skies, light wind and calm seas. The first whale spotted by the Portuguese Princess was a finback at Race Point, however, the Princess carried on to the Triangle to find a number of humpback whales. Within a few minutes of arriving at the Triangle […]
