This Saturday we took a 3.5 hour trip on the Dolphin VIII from Provincetown into the Studds National Marine Sanctuary over the Stellwagen Bank. On our trip out, we saw a couple minke whales and a couple humpbacks, but only from a distance. After a while, we found a school of what our naturalist estimated to be 14 to 16 humpback whales, and she was able to identify two or three specific ones. We were able to circle around and through the school of humpbacks as they were feeding for at least 30 minutes. To feed, the humpbacks swim below a school of fish, then blow a large cloud of bubbles, which traps and carries the fish to the surface. The whales then surface with open mouths, and close them to trap the fish inside. The water drains through the whales' baleen plates in their upper jaws, trapping the fish inside. The bright green areas of water show where the bubbles are rising, and were a good indication of where the whales would surface.

The Dolphin VIII		Alexa and Tom
	Our naturalist (clipboard) and captain
	25-second movie, 4 whales DivX 4 AVI file - 2.5 MB	Binky's Ice Cream