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I began whale watching in the summer
of 2001. My first trip wasn't all that great. It was cold, windy, and seas
were quite choppy. My one and only whale sighting on that trip was an adult
female Humpback named Pinball. I have since seen Pinball on a few other
trips and she has become one of my all time favorites. I always look forward
to each new season just to know that she made it back to the area safely
after her migration.
I created this website back in 2002
as a way for me to share my enthusiasm about these amazing animals and
marine wildlife in general. Eventually, it ended up being a great way for
me for share my photos and more recently, video clips. I hope you enjoy
the material that I've posted as much as I've enjoyed working on it. If
you do have comments and / or suggestions, I would love to hear them. Please
use the link below to email me.
Comments and Suggestions: mandy@whalesightings.com
Frequently
Asked Questions | Link
Exchange
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F.A.Q.
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Whale Watching Questions
Where is the best place
to sit on a whale watching boat?
This is a personal preference, but
for me I think the top deck is the best. The view from the top deck is
much better as you can see more of the whale. Down on the bottom deck you're
almost level with the whale which can make photographing them a little
more difficult. You'd have to try out the different parts of the boat to
decide which one works best for you.
How long is a 'typical'
whale watching trip?
It seems as though most companies
offer trips ranging from 4 to 5 hours. Some trips may end unusually early
due to poor weather conditions or they may run late if the sightings are
really good. Also, if an entangled whale is found that may also cause delays
because most of the time a vessel will stand by the entangled whale until
a rescue team makes it out there or until another vessel can take over
the watch.
How close does the boat normally
get to the whale?
I don't think that it's really a
matter of how close the boats get to the whales. It's mostly a question
of how close do the whales get to the boats. There are whale watching guidelines
(click
here to view them) in place to prevent vessels from getting to
close to the whales, but the whales are wild animals and if they feel like
it making a close approach to the vessels than they do. Sometimes the whales
will come so close that the captain has to shut down the motors until the
whale is seen far enough away from the boat to make a safe departure. Other
times the whales will continue diving before you can get a decent look
at them. So, it's really entirely up to the whales on how close they
come to the boat. Keep in mind a good, respectful whale watch company will
not put any whale in danger by trying to approach to closely.
What is a 'typical' whale watch
like?
Every trip is really different so
there really isn't a 'typical' whale watch. One day you might see 4 different
species and then the next day there may be no whales to be seen. One day
might be bright and sunny with calm seas the next day may be overcast with
rough seas. That's why I can't say it enough, if your first trip isn't
a success don't assume that all trips are like that because it's simply
not the case!
Do you always see whales?
There are trips from time to time
that will produce no sightings. This is very rare and when it happens a
good company will offer you a raincheck to try your luck again or they
will give you your money back. Some companies will even give you a raincheck
when the sightings that they do have aren't that great!
What would you say your best
trip was?
I've had so many unforgettable trips
that it's almost impossible to pick one. A few that immediately to come
to mind would be when I saw a Blue Whale. The first Blue Whale seen in
this area for almost a decade. Or when I saw my first Right Whale in 2003.
This species is so critically endangered (estimated only 300+) that seeing
just one alone is seeing a good part of their population! There was a trip
in 2004 where we saw 2 young Humpback Whales (Hat-Trick and Cirri) feeding
together. They made several really close approaches to the boat which was
an amazing sight! Then there was the trip with an adult male Humpback known
as Hornbill who breached about 10 times in July of 2005.
With that said, I think that my most
memorable trip was in May of 2005 when we stood by an entangled Humpback
Whale. The entanglement was life threatening so this whale surely would've
died if it hadn't been found that day. It had line wrapped around it's
body and tail which had it hog-tied. The line was so heavy that it couldn't
even lift it's tail out of the water to dive. We stayed with this whale
for about an hour and a half waiting for another whale watch vessel to
take over until the rescue team arrived. While we stayed with this whale
it swam a few circles around the boat almost as if it was asking for some
help. It definitely made me feel very helpless knowing that there was nothing
I could to help. Fortunately, the rescue team made it out there later in
the afternoon and was able to cut it free.
How many other whale watching
companies have you been out with?
My first whale watch was with the
Granite State Whale Watch out of Rye, NH and that's where I've gone ever
since. They have a great sightings record, they're the closest to my home,
and the entire staff is very nice!
You've
seen almost everything now, why do you keep going?
While I have
seen all of the species commonly seen in the Gulf of Maine, I continue
going because I find it to be fun and very relaxing. I love the ocean and
I love being able to enjoy the wildlife. Even on the days with little or
no whale activity (which doesn't happen a lot) I just sit back and enjoy
the boat ride on the ocean and watch the seabirds. Besides, every trip
truly is different so there's still much more that I want to see! There
are some whale behaviors that I haven't seen yet and there are some very
rare species that sometimes come to explore this area (there was a Sperm
Whale several years ago, a Blue Whale a few years ago, Orcas (killer whales)
sometimes come close (there was one in 2005), and last season there were
some Bottlenose Dolphins and Rissos Dolphins. You just never know what's
out there waiting to be found!
Questions About Whales
What's
normal whale behavior on a whale watching trip?
On a good majority
of trips the most common whale behavior is simply seeing them only when
they come up to the surface for a few breaths before diving deep into the
ocean again. Every now and then you'll have an opportunity to see them
displaying more active behaviors such as breaching, tail slapping, flipper
slapping, or using different feeding methods such as lunge feeding, open
mouth feeding, bubble feeding, etc. That's why it's so important to go
on a whale watch more than once. You may have a trip with little activity
one day, but the next you could see something totally different.
How often
do you get to see a whale breaching (or displaying any other activity)?
Breaching in
general is pretty rare to see. I've been whale watching since 2001 and
I've only seen 3 whales breaching, all were Humpbacks. The first breach
that I saw was an adult female named Tulip and unfortunately for us, when
she breached there was another whale watching vessel partially blocking
our view. The second whale to breach was either a whale known as Mogul
or Victim. The pair were traveling together so it's hard to say for sure
which one it was. This time the whale breached right in front of the boat
so we had a perfect view of it. The third whale is an adult male known
as Hornbill. This was an amazing breaching display as he breached about
10 times. As I said before breaching in general is pretty rare so Hornbill's
display was an extremely rare occurrence and I consider myself to be very
lucky to have witnessed it! I've only seen 2 whales tail breaching, the
first was an unidentified Humpback and the 2nd was a whale known as Hat-Trick
(one of my favorites!).
What is
your favorite whale to see?
My personally
favorite is the Humpback Whale because in personal experience they tend
to be the most cooperative and the most fun to watch. They seem to spend
more time at the surface and they are slower swimmers than the other species
so they're easier to keep up with. They also show you more of themselves
as they are famous for raising their flukes up and out of the water when
they dive and of course for their acrobatic abilities (breaching). They
are also sometimes seen flipper slapping and open mouth feeding. They just
put on more of a show than the other species!
Since
Humpback Whales are individually identified do you have a favorite?
I have a hard
time picking just one Humpback Whale to call my favorite, but if I had
to pick one I think I'd pick Pinball. Pinball is an adult female and she
was the very first Humpback that I saw in person, on my very first whale
watch to top it off! I had the chance to see Pinball again in 2003 and
this time she was not alone. She had a calf with her! Both Pinball and
her calf spent a lot of time at the surface near the boat as the calf was
learning how to open mouth feed. It was quite the experience! Pinball returned
to Jeffrey's Ledge in 2005 with another calf. She's definitely doing her
part in trying to get the Humpback Whale population back!
Hat-Trick is
becoming another favorite of mine. I've seen Hat-Trick three times now,
once in 2004 and twice on the same weekend in 2005. All of the trips we
saw this whale it (we don't if Hat-Trick is male or female yet) was very
cooperative. Spending a lot of time at the surface and also open mouth
feeding. This whale has been a real pleasure to watch and I'm hoping to
see it again in 2006!
Website and Photography Questions
What
programs did you use to make this website?
All of the
pages created for this website were made using Netscape Composer 4.7. I'm
sure that there are better programs to use, but this is what I started
out using and I feel very comfortable using it so I really haven't checked
to see what else is out there. For my photo processing I use Jasc Paint
Shop Pro 7 and I occasionally use Neat Image as well for trying to fix
photos with unwanted noise.
What kind
of camera(s) / lenses do you use?
When I began
whale watching in 2001, I was using a Sony Mavica CD1000 which I continued
using through the 2002 and 2003 seasons. This camera has only 2.1 megapixels
so needless to say I upgraded when I became really serious about whale
watching and photography. So, during the winter of 2004 I purchased a Canon
Digital Rebel 300D which is a 6.1 megapixel camera and a Canon 75-300mm
IS lens. I was absolutely amazed at the quality of pictures that this camera
can take. It was definitely a great choice and I'm very glad that I went
with it!
How many
pictures do you take on average?
The total number
of pictures I take per trip depends on the number of whales we see and
the weather conditions. I don't really like using my camera in really damp
or rainy weather so on trips like this I don't take as many as I could.
On bright, dry, and sunny days I take loads of pictures of not only the
whales, but also birds. On a bad trip with little sightings or bad weather
I may only take about 30 pictures, but on trips with a lot of sightings
and great weather I sometimes take over 300.
Can I
use your photos for a school project?
I have no problems
at all with anyone using my photos for personal use such as school projects,
desktop wallpaper, etc. If you are interesting in using any photos or video
clips for any other purpose (publishing or for your website, etc.) I ask
that you please contact me prior to doing so. I'm pretty generous
when it comes to things like this, but I do like to know where and why
they will be used.
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Links
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Personal
Whale Watching Sites
-
Gold
Coast Whales - a nice site similar to this one focusing on whales
off the coast of Australia!
Conservation
and Research
Whales
in the News
Whale
Watching
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Pictured Above
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The markings on this
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Fin Whale's back is one
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of the features that
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researchers use to
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individually identify them.
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10/11/08
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