Naturalists

Our naturalists are on each trip to make your voyage a memorable one for years to come. If you’ve been with us on previous excursions then you know that each voyage is unique not only with the marine life you’ll encounter but also with our naturalists.

Andrea Spence — Science Director

Andrea Spence joined Dolphin Fleet as a naturalist in 2020 and now serves as the company’s Science Director. She is passionate about helping passengers connect with the whales of Stellwagen Bank, often sharing the life histories of individual humpback whales so guests can form a personal connection with these remarkable animals.

Andrea has worked with marine wildlife on Cape Cod since 2016. Her experience includes volunteering at a marine animal hospital, assisting with the Center for Coastal Studies’ seal research program, working as a Sea Turtle Technician with the Mass Audubon Cold-Stunned Sea Turtle Rescue Program, and responding to stranded dolphins, whales, and seals with IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue team. She often combines her work as a rescuer with wildlife photography, documenting rescue efforts while providing hands-on care.

When she’s not on the boat, Andrea can often be found exploring Cape Cod’s beaches with her camera and golden retrievers, Hooper and Quint, or traveling to the Caribbean to observe humpback whales in the Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic.

John Conlon

John Conlon holds a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Environmental Science from Stonehill College and works with Dolphin Fleet as a mate, field guide, and researcher. His work focuses on fin whale identification to better understand their presence in the Stellwagen Bank region.

John previously spent nine years conducting environmental monitoring and research with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and guided whale watching trips in Baja California Sur, Mexico for a decade. He also holds a guest lecturing position at the Hel Marine Station at the University of Gdansk in Poland, where he lectures on whales and marine conservation.

A licensed 100-ton Merchant Mariner, John has also guided wildlife trips in the Florida Everglades and polar bear expeditions in Churchill, Canada. He is the author of three books, including Razorback: A Natural History of the Finback Whale, and continues to contribute research and annual fin whale sighting reports for the Dolphin Fleet.

Elizabeth Bradfield

Elizabeth Bradfield has worked as a whale watch naturalist out of Provincetown since the late 1990s. She has also served as an expedition guide and naturalist aboard vessels in Alaska, Baja, the Canadian Arctic, Antarctica, Svalbard, and other remote regions.

In addition to her work on the water, Liz is an accomplished writer. Her books include Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, winner of a Pacific Northwest Book Award; Interpretive Work, winner of the Audre Lorde Prize in Lesbian Poetry; Toward Antarctica; and SOFAR (forthcoming in 2025). A former Stegner Fellow and editor of Broadsided, she currently teaches at Brandeis University.

Dennis Minsky

Dennis Minsky first came to Provincetown in 1968 and returned full time in 2005. He has worked as a naturalist with Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch since 1995 and has also participated in field work with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Dennis is a regular contributor to The Provincetown Independent and WCAI’s “Cape Cod Notebook,” and his writing has appeared in Provincetown Arts. His most recent book, Peculiar and Superior, was published in 2024.

In addition to his work as a writer and naturalist, Dennis has served Provincetown in a number of civic roles, including twelve years as Chair of the Conservation Commission. He currently chairs the town’s Open Space Committee and serves on several other local committees.

Nancy Scaglione-Peck

Nancy Scaglione-Peck has worked as a naturalist aboard Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch vessels since 1996. Her passion for marine animals began at an early age when she volunteered hundreds of hours at the New England Aquarium. She was also part of the team that successfully rescued, rehabilitated, and released three stranded pilot whales on Cape Cod in 1986.

Nancy later earned a degree in biology from Palm Beach Atlantic College and worked at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium caring for and training bottlenose dolphins, Steller sea lions, and beluga whales. After moving to Cape Cod, she joined the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies aboard the Dolphin Fleet as a scientist and educator. She later earned a master’s degree in education and taught high school marine biology.

Nancy continues to participate in seal and sea turtle rehabilitation at a local marine animal hospital. She and her husband also operate a Cape Cod bed and breakfast, and she recently authored a book titled The Adventurous Life of a Cape Cod Dog: A Curious Canine’s Exploration of the Cape’s Natural History.

Carolyn O'Connor

Carolyn grew up fascinated by the ocean, a passion that guided her studies and led her to a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Framingham State University. It was an internship with the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown that truly set her on her path — and the start of a career devoted to ocean wildlife.

She joined Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch in 2014 and has been sharing her love of the marine world with passengers ever since. Her research experience includes four years studying the calving grounds of North Atlantic right whales off the coasts of Florida and Georgia with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. She continues to work part-time with NOAA, conducting aerial surveys of North Atlantic right whales in northern waters.

An avid explorer, Carolyn has snorkeled with killer whales in Norway and is already planning her next adventure — a dive with sperm whales in Dominica.

Mark Gilmore

Mark Gilmore first arrived on Cape Cod in 1982 for a summer internship in whale research with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. He remained in Provincetown and went on to spend more than 25 years working with the Center as a whale watch naturalist and research assistant.

During that time, Mark became one of the founding members of the North Atlantic right whale research team and helped conduct some of the earliest successful humpback whale disentanglements alongside Dr. Charles “Stormy” Mayo and Dave Matilla.

Mark holds both a BA and MAT in Biology and recently retired after many years teaching Biology, Marine Biology, Environmental Technology, and Ecology at Sandwich High School and the STEM Academy. In addition to his work in marine science, he is also a marine artist whose work includes the Dolphin Fleet logo, the Sea Salt Whale Watch Charters logo, and the “Three Whale” fundraising design for the Center for Coastal Studies. Most recently, he created Dolphin Fleet’s 50th anniversary sweatshirt design.

Mark lives in Brewster with his wife Lucy, an early childhood educator. Their two sons, Keegan and Kyle, share interests in biology and art.

Dr. Thérèse Provenzano

Dr. Thérèse Provenzano is passionate about educating passengers about the ocean, our connection to it, and the importance of protecting marine ecosystems. She believes that whale watching experiences can inspire people to take action in safeguarding our oceans for both marine life and future generations.

Thérèse has spent summers studying resident orcas off San Juan Island and has collaborated with renowned whale researcher Roger Payne on the study and meaning of whale song. She currently works at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, caring for animals in both the Education Department and the Children’s Zoo, and volunteers with wildlife rescue organizations including Wild Care Cape Cod and IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue.

She holds honors undergraduate degrees in Biology, Music, English, and Education, as well as a Doctorate of Education in Musical Arts, reflecting her unique blend of science, education, and conservation.

Sophie Blakemore

Sophie Blakemore is a dedicated marine naturalist from the United Kingdom who joined Dolphin Fleet in 2016. Her work has taken her around the world studying whales, including humpback whale research in Hawaii, gray whale conservation work in San Diego, and killer whale and minke whale studies in Scotland.

Outside of Provincetown, Sophie continues to pursue her passion for marine life through adventures such as swimming with orcas in the Arctic and free-diving with sperm whales in the Caribbean.

In addition to her work in marine science, Sophie has a background in video game design. Her most recent game, released in 2019, was set inside a giant sperm whale—fitting for someone who proudly describes herself as whale-obsessed.

In Memory of Dr. Carole Carlson

Dr. Carlson passed away in the spring of 2017 and will be deeply missed by all who shared her vision of well being of the ocean and it’s beauty. Carol was the backbone of Dolphin Fleet’s science and Education department for many years and will be missed by all that knew her.

Dr. Carlson had been a naturalist on board the Dolphin Fleet since 1979. She was the director of the Dolphin Fleet’s Research and Education Program and a Research Associate at the College of the Atlantic (COA), Bar Harbor, Maine. COA curates the North Atlantic Humpback Whale and Antarctic Humpback Whale catalogues.

Her work and that of Dr. Stormy Mayo on humpback whale photo-identification at the Center for Coastal Studies was the inspiration for the PBS series “The Voyage of the Mimi”. She has spent over twenty-six years studying cetaceans off the east coast of the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and the Eastern Caribbean and is an acknowledged world expert on photo-identification techniques, humpback whales and whale watching.

Dr. Carlson served on the Whale watch Sub-Committee of the International Whaling Commission and has organized and conducted several international whale-watching workshops. The workshops promote responsible whale watching as a viable ecological and economical alternative to whaling by assisting in: the development of national regulations and/or guidelines throughout the world; the development of education and scientific programs associated with whale-watching platforms; the organization of training programs for operators and tour guides; and the development of ‘floating classrooms’ on local whale-watch vessels.

Her marine education work in the Caribbean has touched over twenty thousand schoolchildren and their teachers, and she has trained college interns to collect scientific data in the region. Dr. Carlson has authored scientific papers as well as education materials for distribution in the United States, the Caribbean islands and South America.

Training

Each one of our naturalists participate in a yearly training program that explores the ever-changing marine habitat we visit daily. During this program presentations are given by scientist, naturalist, government officials and other parties that will help with the growth and understanding of the habitat. As we explore the how’s, what’s and why’s of the environment we visit, we start to understand the affects of each intricate piece of the puzzle that plays a part in this delicate habitat.

We feel that it is an important factor to continue to look at our surroundings, expand our knowledge and pass it on to the passengers that visit us on each trip.