Finding Whales

[rslotpole]

Hi, sailing out of Boston heading to Ptown. I remember a tip from this forum a few years ago about a site that tracks where boats go. The site identifies the boats so you can tell if they are whale watching boats. It's useful to follow a few days before you go out so you can get a general idea of where the whales are. Does anyone know the name of the site or have other suggestions for finding whales?

[Dave_S]

If you know the name of the boat you track them on AIS apps

[psk125]

We see whales just about every time we cross MA bay, going from the Cape Cod Canal up to Tennant's Harbor, or back. 30 minutes of breaching last time, about a half mile away. Just off the beach going in to P-town we had one surface about 30' off our starboard bow, apparently feeding on the baitfish that were jumping all over the place. Look up the names of the whale-watching boats on their websites and AIS is your friend. They also talk with each other over the radio to locate pods. Don't know what channel. Maybe 8 or 13?

[dfelsent]

Saw one today about 2 miles off Marblehead. A curious minke came over and surfaced right next to the boat. Made me jump.
AIS will be your friend as well as binoculars. Often I have seen whales north of Race Point at the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank.
Not hard to find at this time of year and location. Lucky us.

[Merriweather]

An orca came to see us last year! We were at an anchorage out in the San Juan Islands and noticed a big wake coming into our little bay. As we sat out in the cockpit wondering what the wake came from we saw an orca across the bay splashing around where there were some seals. Then the orca started swimming straight towards our boat! I thought he was going to ram us, but at the last second he turned sharply and dove underwater. I saw lots of blood in the water. I assume he got one of the seals! It was pretty amazing!

[NedX]

Originally Posted by rslotpole

Hi, sailing out of Boston heading to Ptown. I remember a tip from this forum a few years ago about a site that tracks where boats go. The site identifies the boats so you can tell if they are whale watching boats. It's useful to follow a few days before you go out so you can get a general idea of where the whales are. Does anyone know the name of the site or have other suggestions for finding whales?

Here you go

https://whalemap.ocean.dal.ca

The first right whales of the year in Cape Cod Bay arrive about now. I see there's one that was sighted off Nantucket yesterday.

I've seen them a few times off Duxbury Beach, but a little later in the year....

[Remember to keep away and report it when you site a right]

[Hope123]

Nice suggestions all.

[Chotu]

Said in my best Russian accent:

In Massachusetts Bay, you don’t find whales. Whales find you!

I’ve never passed by Boston and NOT seen whales. I typically see them due East of Boston itself, which is going to be just a little north of the route between Bos and Ptown

Hard not to see them in Massachusetts bay.

[Tomodore]

Love to see whales from a distance.When we are sailing we put some music on to l
Make some noise so they are aware of where we are.A few years ago we were stopped for almost an hour by two fin whales that swam inches from our hull and under our rudder. Like being on a runaway truck very exciting if nobody gets hurt.

[Manateeman]

What makes a random sighting of any marine mammal so memorable is the uniqueness of the event.
Are you doing marine mammal research?
If that were true, you would already know the answer.
Do you believe you have the training equal to that of the whale experts on board whale watching vessels who try to keep these vessels from disturbing the whales. (How effectively this program is working is debatable but that is another topic)
I will not captain a whale watch vessel.
I don’t swim with manatees.
Why?
Why risk doing something which might interfere with their behavior.
Might harm them.
Please read the Federal laws protecting all marine mammals.
There are substantial penalties for violations and rewards for information on violators. The legislation details the science and the reasoning for it.
The ocean is not a zoo.
Someday you might be lucky and see a whale. Till then, please don’t pursue them. There is a great deal of information on the web on how and why vessel actions and acoustic noise harms marine mammals.
Happy trails to you.
Captain Mark and his manatee crew (who believe they actually are manatees when in fact they are mermaids) .