Plymouth, MA - Whales, Jaeger and a Rock 8/7/2025

     This past week I took a road trip up to Plymouth, MA for a whale watching excursion. I’ve been wanting to expand my pelagic experiences and ever since my eldest daughter moved up to Rhode Island I’ve wanted to get out on the New England waters.  I had heard that the area known as Stellwagen Bank is a popular feeding location for several species of whales and dolphins.  I decided that if I didn’t make the trip soon I would miss the opportunity for another year.  The weather looked good for midweek so my daughter and sister joined me on the trip.

Stellwagen Bank is a marine sanctuary not too far from the Massachusetts coast between Gloucester and Provincetown.  There are many operators offering whale watching excursions to the sanctuary.  Since our home base for the trip was my daughter’s apartment in Rhode Island, I chose the closest one which was in Plymouth, almost 75 miles away.  We chose the morning sail so that afterwards we could spend some time in one of the United States’ most historic towns which none of us had ever previously visited.  

We headed out from Rhode Island at sunrise which allowed us to avoid traffic.  We arrived early which was also good and allowed us to find the free public parking lot near the wharf before it was full.  Once we boarded the boat I was eager to get out to the sanctuary.  On the ride out we saw the Mayflower II at its berth and passed the location of probably America’s oldest monolith, Plymouth Rock.  We took note of these sites for later, but for now I was more interested in what sea life I could find.  As we continued out of the harbor I took note of Wilson’s storm-petrels scavenging on the water.  As we headed out into what I believe was Cape Cod Bay, I saw a parasitic jaeger flying parallel to the boat.  I picked up more storm-petrels and some Cory’s shearwaters as we made our way to Stellwagen Bank. 

Parasitic jaeger.  © S. Weiss

I had anticipated the sanctuary to be teeming with whales and dolphins, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case on this day.  We had left the dock shortly after 9 and didn’t spot our first whale until about 10:30.  It was a common minke whale doing what minke whales normally do- swimming swiftly with occasional surface breaks to breathe.  I thought we would spend some time on this whale to get better views, but the captain soon moved off of it and picked up some speed.  He was obviously heading towards something more interesting.  Up ahead I saw the familiar blow spot of a humpback whale almost immediately followed by a second.  I told my daughter and sister that we were heading towards at least two humpbacks.

Left, common minke whale.  Right, logging humpback whales.  © S. Weiss

We came upon a pair of humpback whales logging at the surface.  Logging is what cetaceans (whales and dolphins) do when they are resting or sleeping.  They look like giant logs floating at the surface, taking a breath and exhaling the spout every minute or so.  Because they are conscious breathers, they have to actually think about taking a breath.  To do so, they sleep with only half their brains shut down so the other half can remind them to breathe.  Occasionally the pair would deep dive, raising their huge flukes out of the water as they submerged.  They would return to the surface a few minutes later and nap a little more.  We stayed on the pair for a while (close but not too close) giving everyone on board wonderful views.  

Flukes of the humpback whales as they deep dive.  © S. Weiss

Baleen, or whalebone.  © S. Weiss

Baleen is what whales like the humpback and minke have instead of teeth.  The baleen is made of keratin, like our fingernails, and constantly grows, like our fingernails.  The baleen hangs from the whale's upper jaw, with the course hairy-like bristle part (left photo) facing inward.  Different baleen whales have different sized baleen with different amounts of plates (the accordion-like stripes hanging down in the right photo).  The whales feed by taking in massive amounts of water then use their tongues to force the water out through the baleen like a strainer.  The fish and krill are trapped behind for the whales to swallow.

We left the sleepy duo to look for other animals.  We did come upon another fast-moving minke whale and a couple more individual humpback whales.  I was hoping for fin whales, North Atlantic right whales and maybe even a sei whale.  However, the cetacean party I had envisioned never materialized.  While the sleepy behemoths were very nice to observe, there were no displays of whales breaching or lunge feeding on our watch.  Most disappointing though was that we did not see any dolphins.  I was really hoping to see my first Atlantic white-sided dolphins which are kind of regular at the sanctuary, but not this time.  As usual, it always seems that once we get on some whales, it's time to head back to port.  Always the fastest three to four hours I know.

Sooty shearwater (top left), Cory's shearwater (top right) and great shearwater (above).  © S. Weiss

On the way back, I saw many more storm-petrels, some more Cory’s shearwaters, some great shearwaters and a sooty shearwater.  Also, on the way back we saw the Mayfower II returning from a test sail.  A little glimpse back to a scene 400 years earlier.  Once back at port, we grabbed lunch at a local restaurant then took a mini unguided tour of historic Plymouth before driving back to Rhode Island.

Mayflower II at sea.  © S. Weiss

Since we came this far, we all agreed that we had to see Plymouth Rock.  It was only a few blocks away and an easy way to walk off our lunch.  Spoiler alert for anyone who has never seen the rock, skip the rest of this paragraph.  The rock is merely a big stone.  It has been moved several times over the past near in half millennia and certainly is not the grandiose rock today that history made it, added to the fact that this was really the Pilgrims’ second stop in the New World.  They first landed across the bay at Provincetown.  Either way we were happy to see it and cross it off our bucket lists.

The Plymouth Rock.  © S. Weiss

Plymouth rock is now enclosed in a gated shrine at 79 Water Street, Plymouth, MA.

On the way back to the car we came upon the Mayflower II again, already nestled back at its berth.  The newer ship is actually a to-scale replica of the original.  No one knows what ever happened to the first Mayflower.  The ship is currently going under rehabilitation work and public access to it is temporarily off limits.  Par for our course.  The ship appears small, in my opinion, for the 100+ passengers it carried from the Old World.  I’m sure the those on the historic journey endured many cramped and harsh days seeking their religious freedom.  The Mayflower II was definitely more interesting than the rock.

The Mayflower II.  © S. Weiss

The Mayflower II is now located at State Pier, Water Street, Plymouth, MA

 

I always reinforce the mantra that you never know what you’ll see on a pelagic trip until you actually go, and each one is different than the last.  I had to experience Stellwagen Bank for myself at least once.  I’m glad I did. I know there could be better experiences to be had out there.  I don’t think I will make the trip again specifically to whale watch, but I just may take an extra day for it as part of a future visit to see my daughter in Rhode Island.