11:45 P.M. 10 miles SE of Eastern Point, Gloucester, MA. Clear. Vsby- excellent. Wind - Variable 0 to 3 knots. Sea calm. No swell.

Got underway from Yankee Whale Watching in Gloucester tonight at 10:20 P.M. for the C.O.R.E. three-day Georges Bank Canyons research trip aboard the Yankee Capts. Took Eastern Point abeam at 10:38 and shaped a course southeast (150M) for our first waypoint -- the head of Lydonia Canyon. The plan is to start in Lydonia tomorrow, work westward to Hydrographer on Tuesday, then head back in via the Great South Channel Wednesday.

This is the first time this trip has gone since 1994. Lisa Foerster, Josh and Paula Miller, the Yankee Fleet, and Capts. Greg Mercurio and Pete Maiuri of the Yankee Capts have made this a reality once again. Special thanks go out to Capt. Greg and Capt. Pete for finding a way to make this one go with only 14 participants!

Crew will include: Capt. Greg and Capt. Pete; Ray and Kathy as mates; Lisa and Josh as naturalists; and me (Mike Gooley) as the seabird person. There are many familiar faces among the participants: Mary Collis, Eleanor Dickens, Jeanne & Lisa (of Lewiston, ME), Bob Kelley, Frank McCue, Dottie Oliver, and Tyler Seavey (who’s fresh from 10 days of blue-water whale-watching in the Azores).

It’s a perfect night. The stars are brilliant and Jupiter is rising in the east. We couldn’t have asked for a better weather synopsis. A strong cold front, with a severe squall-line, passed offshore Thursday night. Another, very weak front may pass offshore tomorrow night. Behind it is nothing but high pressure all the way out to the Northern Plains. Ana, the first tropical storm of the season, came within 300 miles of Cape Hatteras Tuesday, but has since headed out into the open Atlantic and fallen apart. The marine forecast calls for no wind in excess of 25 knots at least through Tuesday.

The most exciting news is from the satellite images of the Gulf Stream. There has been a huge warm-core Gulf Stream ring (150 miles in diameter) out along the Georges Bank shelf-break since early June. About ten days ago the Gulf Stream, which had been flowing east along 38 degrees N, developed a northward meander and collided, head-on, with this massive ring. In the aftermath of this collision the surface water in the ring has warmed from 74 to around 80 degrees and a huge southward meander has developed along 65 degrees W, extending all the way down to 36 N. It’s likely that we will be in some of the most tropical water ever encountered in the 12 year history of this canyons trip by tomorrow afternoon.

I am turning in, It should be a nice ride overnight. Tide is slack right now, but we’ll get a push from the ebb as it reaches its maximum around 2 A.M., especially since it’s only two days after the new moon.

5:40 A.M. N 41 36.0’, W 69 16.5’. 31 miles E of Chatham. Steaming 150M. Bkn high clouds. 65 degrees. Vsby 1/2 mile in patchy fog. Wind- SW 8 knots. One foot chop on four foot swell from south.

Day one. Turned out at 4:30 this morning and found that I’d missed first light by about a half-and-hour. It sure does come early this close to the solstice. We’ve traveled 86 miles overnight, giving us a SOG of 12 knots. Still have 30 miles to go to the NW edge of Georges and 94 to the head of Lydonia. Scattered Wilson’s Storm-Petrels Oceanites oceanicus and an Ocean Sunfish Mola mola so far. It’s slack water now, but we’ll have a one to two knot head current slowing us down by mid-morning as the tide floods.

8:40 A.M. N 41 21’, W 68 53’. Trough off NW Georges Bank. 76 fathoms. Course 150M. Clear. Vsby unlimited. Wind- WSW 7 knots. Sea temp- 63 degrees.

We’re about eight miles from the NW edge of Georges and can see a wall of low clouds and fog ahead marking the cool, tide-stirred waters over the top of the bank. Lots of east/west tide lines now that it’s just about maximum flood. Just made a 25 minute stop here on four Humpback Whales Megaptera novaeangliaea, a Finback Balaenoptera physalus, and around 50 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins Lagenorhynchus acutus (hereafter referred to as Lags). Humpbacks included "Triad" and her ‘97 calf.

Spent the last three hours transiting the 80 to 90 fathom basin north of Great South Channel. The fog lifted just after 6 A.M. Quite a bit of life. This is our third stop. First was for a half-hour at 6:15 (N 41 30’, W 69 07’) for two Humpbacks, including catalogued individual "W", and 15 to 20 Lags. Second was a five minute look (7:15 - N 41 27’, W 69 03’) at two big Finbacks on long dives, also with Lags - around 25 to 30. The Lags are in thick all over this basin. Had a big group of 100 to 150 about six miles back. Lots of little calves ("footballs") in these groups too.

Most common pelagic birds along track have been the Wilson’s Storm-Petrels and Greater Shearwaters Puffinus gravis. We’ve also seen smaller numbers of Manx, Sooty, and Cory’s Shearwaters P. puffinus, P. griseus, and Calonectris diomedea, a Northern Gannet Morus bassanus, and, at this stop, a Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis, thanks to Bob Kelley keeping a sharp lookout.

Some excitement during the last five minutes. A South Polar Skua Catharacta maccormickii just flew down the starboard side, landed briefly on the surface, then flew right across the bow to the eastward. Credit the sharp eyes of Eleanor Dickens for this one. She shouted it out from the top deck astern and I spun around (nearly pulling the microphone cord out of the socket!) to see a big, menacing bird bearing down on us. It was uniformly dark across the upper wings and mantle and on the underparts. Head was lighter, especially on nape, giving it a look somewhat like that of a Golden Eagle when in flight. Seemed to be in the intermediate phase color morph. A great sighting that will probably be backed up by some good photos.

We’ve been on Georges now for a little over an hour. Crossed the 50 fathom line onto the NW edge at 9:10 and immediately went into a dense, white fog that was clinging to the cool, tide-stirred water. Visibility was zero, despite the sun overhead, for about a half-hour, then it evaporated, leaving only patches of low cloud and haze. Had two Humpbacks at 9:35 along the 40 fathom line (N 41 15’, W 68 45’). Didn’t stick around because they were on long dives. It’s a Catch 22 this first day out. We want to stop for the inshore whales, but, every time we do we delay our arrival out in the canyons. Water is very streaky here and we are beginning to see lots of jellyfish. Look like Lion’s Mane Jellyfish Cyanea capillata.

11:45 A.M. N 41 07.5’, W 68 27.0’. Little Georges. 21 fathoms. Steaming 150M. Bkn high clouds. Vsby 3 miles in haze. Sea state 0. Flat calm. Sea temp- 57 degrees.

We’ve been crossing the sand shoals on top of Georges for about the last half-hour or so. The color sounder screen looks like a seismograph in an earthquake - either straight up or straight down. It’s slack water but the surface still has lots of rips and whirlpools where the current is deflected upward by the hard-packed sand. I just checked our position on the chart and found that the distinct rip to the east we’ve had abeam for several minutes corresponds to a NW/SE sand ridge that shoals to around four-and-a-half fathoms on the chart.

The water temp has fallen from 59 degrees along the NW edge to 57 degrees. The cool water is chilling the air near the surface, creating optical mirages- inverted horizons and strangely distorted images of minor rips. It’s no wonder earlier generations of fisherfolk wanted nothing to do with the top of the bank what with the treacherous shoals, swirling currents, fog, and mirages.

Not much to report for whales or seabirds. We had one Humpback (ID’d as "Raccoon") on dives up to nine minutes back along the 30 fathom line (N 41 12, W 68 35). Just a scattering of Wilson’s Petrels and Greater Shearwaters and one more Northern Fulmar. This lack of larger forms of life is pretty typical for the top of Georges. I think that they avoid it because of the strong tidal currents. Plankton and bait probably gets shifted around so much by the tide that consistent concentrations favorable for feeding can’t develop. There is probably much better foraging where this cool, tide-mixed water meets warmer, more stable water and fronts form, concentrating plankton and bait.

One life-form that has not been in short supply is the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish Cyanea capillata. The calm surface is littered with them. Jay Frontierro counted 73 along our track in just one minute!

Mon. July 7th. M/V Yankee Capts.

1:20 P.M. N 40 54’, W 68 13’. Southern edge Little Georges. 27 fathoms. Course 150 M. Bkn high clouds. Vsby 5 miles in haze. Glassy flat calm. Sea Temp- 63 degrees.

Just about to leave the shoal ground of Georges behind us. Sounder shows a gently dropping bottom. No more sand ridges. Vsby improving and no more mirages. About a half-an-hour ago we had two objects that looked like distorted barges directly ahead of us. They never seemed to get any closer or change their angle on our bow. Couldn’t get a clear view of them, even in binoculars. May have been inverted images of vessels beyond our optical horizon. Weird!

Beginning to get a little life now - besides jellyfish. Picked up our first Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa about ten minutes ago. At this position we saw our first Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata and had a great stop on three nice Ocean Sunfish. They were directly alongside and easily viewed through the glassy surface. Best looks I’ve ever had at this species. For the first time I got to view one head-on and it’s now abundantly obvious how they got their common name. Viewed from this perspective they look exactly like the little freshwater sunfish I used to catch as a kid. Good place for them, considering they like to feed on jellyfish!

Cruising down the southern flank on the last leg of our run out to the shelf-break. There has been a lot of life: three more Ocean Sunfish, good numbers of Blue Sharks Prionace glauca, and a lot of Minke Whales - maybe ten since last entry. We also had about 25 Lags around 2 P.M. There is a real "green water" smell and we’ve seen some bait schools rippling at the surface. Lisa says the smell reminds her of Stellwagen when the mackerel and bluefish are in. Birds have rebounded too: just had a dark-phase Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius pomarinus and there have been good numbers of shearwaters, including Cory’s and Manx, as well as scattered Leach’s Storm-Petrels.

Had our first Portuguese Man-of-War Physalia pelagica (hereafter referred to as Physalia) at 1:50 in water that was still a cool 63 degrees. They do drift up onto the southern flank with the breeze. There are still some of the Cyanea jellies, but they are nowhere near as abundant as earlier. Also had some small fish (10 to 12 inches) making small V-wakes just off the bow. Bonito? Things are beginning to take on a more deep-water flavor.

We’ve finally reached the blue water. Stopped here to check out an orange offshore lobster-gear float with lots of small fish balled up beneath it. There were probably around 50 one to two inch, laterally flattened, yellowish-brown fishes in a tight school.

Mon. July 7th. M/V Yankee Capts.

These are the same ones I’ve been seeing under weed bunches out here for years and also down in the Gulf Stream off Hatteras last summer. I think they are juvenile filefish Monacanthas sp. In addition, there is a four to five inch, brownish fish with black vertical bands on its flanks - Greg tells us it’s a Banded Rudderfish Seriola zonata.

Anything out here in the deep blue void is a valuable piece of cover to help small stuff to avoid being eaten. It seems like any little piece of weed, no matter how small, has at least one small fish around it. I’ve been watching them dart back under their chosen bits as we’ve approached this afternoon. Even saw one using a gull feather!

The run out from the 40 fathom line to here over the last two hours has featured warmer water and, with it, our first sightings of deep-water cetaceans. The sea temp. has increased from 70 degrees at 40 fathoms, to 72 at 50 fathoms, and around 74 here at the canyon head. We’ve had three sightings of Common Dolphins Delphinus delphis (hereafter referred to as Delphinus) starting back at the 40 fathom line. A couple of these have featured great looks at mothers and calves through the glassy surface and audible echolocatory clicks and whistles. In addition, we picked up one group of around 20 Bottlenose Dolphins Tursiops truncatus (hereafter referred to as Tursiops) that rode the bow wave for a few minutes.

Same mix of pelagic birds as earlier. Good number of Blue Sharks too. We passed another Physalia around 3 P.M. and this one was interesting because of small circular dimples in the glassy water all around it, indicating small fish. These were probably the Man-of-War Fish Nomeus gronovii a species that has found a way to hide among the stinging tentacles of Physalia, gaining an impenetrable defense against predators. They feed on zooplankton and nibble on the tentacles of the Man-of-War. Did not actually see the fish, but I’m sure that’s what they were. Neat!

We’ve definitely found the tropical blue-water of the warm-core ring. Sea temp. jumped from 74 at canyon-head to 77 at 200 fathoms, and 80 degrees here. This temperature is identical to that in the Gulf Stream itself. All of the tropical indicators are here. Have seen clumps of Sargassum weed with the tiny, brownish, probable filefish underneath, little Sargassum-camoflaged juvenile flying fish, and more Physalia.

As soon as we reached the canyon, Greg put out a trolling spread consisting of two flat lines off the stern with artificial squids on spreader bars. We have been slowly trolling down-canyon into the deep water (aka "The Deeps") passing close to each orange offshore lobster gear float along the steep drop-off of the western canyon wall. These balls hold lots of small fish, as we’ve seen, and Dolphin ( the fish, aka Dorado or Mahi-Mahi) Coryphaena hippurus like to prowl around them. We’ve seen several of them, gorgeous yellow and electric blue fish making big V-wakes, but none of them have given us a bite.

Mon. July 7th. M/V Yankee Capts.

Picked up two more offshore cetacean species: Gray Grampus Grampus griseus (hereafter referred to as Grampus) and Pilot Whales Globicephala melaena. Small groups of each species from about 150 fathoms on out. Typical offshore birds: Wilson’s and Leach’s Storm-Petrels and Greater Shearwaters. Up to 100 Wilson’s at around 200 fathoms, including a tight surface raft of 60+. Some were feeding at the surface by pattering.

No bites yet, so our dreams of fresh Mahi-Mahi steaks will have to wait. Capt. Greg has cooked up a great pasta and chicken dish instead.

Just shut down for the overnight drift. Greg said he’d finish up the day for us with double-breaching Sperm Whales at sunset. Not quite, but we do have some Tursiops off the bow doing some acrobatic leaping with the red disk of the sun setting behind them. Pretty close!

Worked out to the 500 fathom line in Lydonia, then came about to the west and northwest at 7:30 in order to reach Gilbert before dark. Usual birds, both no other cetaceans until these Tursiops. We’ll have a full day tomorrow to work the shelf-edge all the way over to the Hydrographer.

10:45 P.M. Near SE Corner Gilbert Canyon. Drifting. Clear. Vsby unlimited. Wind- S 7 to 10 knots. One foot chop.

Turning in after a long day. The stars are fantastic. It’s breezing up slightly from the south - around eight knots. Big deal! Weather is unbelieveable for way out here.

Did my slide program once it got dark, then a few of us kept a watch for life attracted to the lighted water alongside for a short while. Lights are not quite bright enough, it seems. Did have some of the very common Long-finned Squid Illex illecebrosus that all the Grampus and Pilot Whales out here are undoubtedly chowing-down on. Also got to see one good-sized (ca. five inch) Flying Fish Cypselurus heterurus. Not much else, though. Plankton net is out for the overnight drift.

Day two. Just started up the engines and got underway to head back out to 500 fathoms before turning west for the other canyons. We are 8.5 miles NE of where we shut down

Tues. July 8th. M/V Yankee Capts.

last night. That gives us an average drift 0.9 knots - much more than the light breeze and minimal tidal currents out here could produce. We were clearly caught up in the clockwise circulation of the warm-core Gulf Stream ring.

Turned out this morning at 4:30. The sea was perfectly still, without even a puff of breeze. Dark, low clouds drifted slowly under a broken cover of higher clouds and there was a squall off to the southward with lightning and muffled claps of thunder. Probably the weak cold front that was in the forecast. Perhaps it gained some convective energy from the warm water. There was a distinct clearing line with blue sky off to the northwest.

Interestingly, some of clouds overhead looked exactly like mammatocumulus - the kind of cloud often seen in advance of severe thundersqualls. There was not even a hint of potential for any severe weather in the forecasts and the squall off to the south was pretty mild. Odd.

Had a large, black dragonfly and a Leach’s Petrel circling the boat before we got underway. About as unusual a combination as you’re likely to find out here. (The dragonfly was obviously a stow-away). The catch from the plankton net was disappointing, compared to previous trips. Mostly small copepods and not much else. There were a few small, dark fish actually inside the mouth of the net, but they scooted out the second the net was hauled.

7:10 A.M. N 40 16’, W 67 49’. Gilbert Canyon. 500 fathoms. Sunny. Clear. Wind- SW 4 to 6 knots. Calm sea. Swell to five feet from southward. Sea temp- 79 degrees.

Just came about to the north to work up into Gilbert Canyon. All of the low weather from earlier has completely dried up. Looks like another perfect day. Capt. Greg says if we get much more of this they ought to shoot us.

Reached 500 fathoms in Lydonia a half-an-hour ago and have been working west along that contour. Usual blue-water stuff on track: scattered Cory’s and Greater Shearwaters, Wilson’s and Leach’s Storm-Petrels, a Pomarine Jaeger, clumps of bleached yellow Sargassum weed, and a few small flying fish. A group of 7 to 10 Grampus right here, milling at the surface with lots of close physical contact. A couple of them are really white.

Hit the jackpot here in outer Gilbert. By 7:30 we had spouts of probable Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus in view. Before we could reach them, however, we came across something just as, if not more, exciting: a small group of Beaked Whales Mesoplodon sp.! Saw one or two larger, probable adults from a distance and then lost them. Three or four smaller, probable juveniles came in close along the starboard side,

Tues. July 8th. M/V Yankee Capts.

then, in typical beaked whale-fashion, the whole group vanished. Whole encounter lasted about 10 minutes. Overall impression was that these were similar to the Beaked Whales we have seen on this trip in 1987, ‘88, and ‘91. These have been ID’d by Smithsonian expert James Mead as Sowerby’s Beaked Whale M. bidens.

Reached the four Sperm Whales at 8:20 and spent the last hour-and-twenty minutes with them. Bigger than we usually see - around 40 feet with huge heads, fully one-third of the body length. Tyler says they are probably immature males (a "bachelor pod"). One had an old gash on the caudal peduncle and another a lot of white on the dorsal hump. They were on shallow dives of 15 to 20 minutes with no flukes at first. Then, we had two go down with flukes right next to the boat. They were headed slowly northwestward, up-canyon, for much of the encounter, then turned southward as they approached the west rim. When one animal sounded with flukes immediately after surfacing from a TD of 20 minutes, we decided we might have worn out our welcome and decided to move on. (Noticed for first time today that you can sometimes see the outline of the canyons, in their upper-reaches, as marked by the offshore lobster floats. They are set not just at the heads of the canyons, but all along the 100 fathom line on each rim as well, with the long trawls of traps extending down into the depths of the canyon axis.)

Coming about to the northward to run up into Oceanographer. Nice group of 5 to 10 Tursiops here. Acrobatic leaps and lots of splashes. Some tiny calves in this group.

Run over from Gilbert fairly quiet. Made a quick stop on a 40 foot Finback Whale making long dives on the west rim of Gilbert (N 40 19’, W 67 55’). Also had Grampus in view from time-to-time, splashing. Had the "usual mix" of birds, plus three Jaegers (probably Pomarines) and two definite Audubon’s Shearwaters Puffinus lherminieri. Also: ca. 6 Physalia, more probable Bonito, and a small bunch of Flying Fish.

As we left Gilbert we passed close by a small sportfisher (~35 footer) trolling. Capt. Pete got them on VHF and found out they were from Nantucket. They would have one hell of a ride back in that little thing if the weather turned ugly. Capt. reported boating five Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares (including an 80 pounder) while chunking last night on the west side of Oceanographer. We’ve been trolling all morning with no bites.

Just came about to 250M for Hydrographer. Spent the last two hours working our way up the axis of Oceanographer. We won’t go all the way up to the head. Hot! Brilliant sun makes it feel a lot warmer than 84 degrees. People are hunkered in whatever shade they can find.

Tues. July 8th. M/V Yankee Capts.

Group of 25 to 30 Pilot Whales milling and socializing at surface nearby. We also had a small group of tiny Tursiops about an hour ago. Size had us baffled for a while. Passed a great, eight-foot Hammerhead Shark Sphyrna sp. at the surface on port side a couple minutes ago. Only a couple of us got to see it and, by the time we got turned around it was gone. Lots of jumping fish. Capt. Greg got a good look and ID’d them as Oceanic Bonito Sarda sarda.

Finally got some action on the fishing front. Just after noon, as we were eating lunch in the main cabin, Ray shouted "Fish!" from the stern. I nearly got in the path of Capt. Greg as he bolted aft from the galley. Now I know how those quarterbacks feel when they nearly get nailed by a rushing defensive tackle! He took the rod and, a few minutes later, boated a 35 pound Yellowfin Tuna. Dressed it out quickly and Tyler - obscure Oriental condiments in hand - was the first (and only) person in line for some very fresh sashimi.

Passed a fishing vessel a short while ago with a pulpit and two crew members up in the cross-tree of mast. Swordfishing? Pete got them on the VHF and the Capt. gave us coordinates for whales they’d seen - mostly Humpbacks and Sperm Whales back over in Lydonia, plus Grampus, of course. He also mentioned sea turtles. No surprise, given the numbers of jellies we saw yesterday.

5:30 P.M. N 40 09’, W 68 25’. Welker Canyon. 200-300 fathoms. Clear. Sunny & Hot. Vsby-unlimited. Wind- WSW 0 to 5 knots. Calm sea. Swells to four feet. Sea Temp- 81 degrees.

Back into some really warm water. Usual birds along track from Oceanographer. Did see a couple Storm-Petrels that could have been Band-rumped, but they’re a tough call and I just don’t have any experience with them. Besides this, a couple of gorgeous, big Dolphin (fish), a few Cyanea jellies, a nice Physalia, and more Bonito.

Grampus all over the place with smaller numbers of Pilot Whales mixed in. The whole shelf-break is thick with them. The Grampus are chin-slamming, back-breaching, and creating white-water in every direction. If we stopped for each group we’d never make any progress. My theory is that they spend the daylight hours - when the squid are way down deep - resting and socializing, then feed actively at night when prey is closer to the surface. Lot more birds in this area, including a couple of rafts of 30+ Greater Shearwaters. They stick around the whales. I’ll bet it’s to keep with them after dark so they can easily pick-off squid they concentrate near the surface.

We’ve been at this position for a half-an-hour with a group of 50 to 60 Pilot Whales actively milling/socializing at the surface, directly alongside. The most remarkable encounter with this species I’ve ever had. Very social. In physical contact often. Rolling, nudging, slapping flippers while rolled onto back, head-standing, and tail-smacking. Lots of white water. Could even hear echolocation and other noises as they spy-hopped. One even left its group by a couple lengths, spy-hopped and made repeated squeaky sounds directed toward the Capts. port side. Hard not to interpret this as some sort of gesture (communication?) directed at us, as opposed to other members of the group. Lots of calves, including one that still had the light gray, wrinkled skin of a newborn. Amazing! Too bad we didn’t have a video camera.

Tues. July 8th. M/V Yankee Capts.

8:30 P.M. N 40 01’, W 68 51’. Dogbody Canyon. 500 fathoms. Clear. Vsby unlimited. Wind- NW 4 to 6 knots. Calm sea.

Turning northwest now to run up into Hydrographer. We are over a minor canyon - called Dogbody - that doesn’t show on most charts. Beautiful sunset around 10 minutes ago. Little puffs of convective cumulus low over the warm water to our south. Venus and a thin crescent moon to the west.

Got underway from the big Pilot Whale group at 5:50 and have been trolling westward since. Had the Yellowfin Tuna for dinner, baked after marinating in olive oil with lemon, salt, pepper, and onion salt. Delicious! Three interruptions during the meal. First was a fish on that spit the hook. No sooner than we’d settled down when another call of "Fish!" rang out and this was a BIG one. The drag was screeching as it let out the line. Greg brought this one to boat-side in short order. A beautiful, four-foot long White Marlin Tetrapturus albidus ! He was going to bring it aboard for photos, before releasing it, but it slipped the hook in the attempt.

Final interruption was from a Greater Shearwater. Several of them had been following in our wake, fooling around with the squid artificials for a while. Suddenly, Ray shouted out for Capt. Pete to stop as one managed to get itself hooked. We stopped, brought the bird aboard, and Pete quickly freed it. Should be fine. They get much worse treatment from their own kind, squabbling over scraps of offal. As for other birds, we’re still getting scattered Wilson’s and Leach’s Petrels, plus we’ve had seven Audubon’s Shearwaters on the run over from Welker.

11:55 P.M. Drifting in outer Hydrographer Canyon. 100 fathoms. Clear. Vsby unlimited. Glassy flat calm.

Shut down for the overnight drift near a couple of offshore lobster boats around 9:30 P.M. along the 100 fathom line on the east corner of Hydrographer. Shortly afterward the crescent moon set, turning a mysterious copper color just before it sank below the horizon. This is the first time we’ve spent two nights drifting in the deep water on one of these trips.

For the last couple hours we’ve been keeping a watch for stuff attracted to the lights and trying to jig some Illex squids to use for bait. Ray has a chum-slick of herring chunks going and we’ve got several stand-up rods in the stern with baits suspended in the slick. No action yet, but it often takes hours for the bite to start -- if it ever does.

There is a lot more life attracted to our lights tonight. Surface has been alive. A big school of small stuff right under the lights on the starboard rail. Couple of inches long. Sometimes whitish; other times they appear reddish. Not quite right for fish. I think they may be another species of squid - perhaps the Short-finned Loligo pealii. We’ve also had a lot more of the Illex squids - both singles and in small packs. Kathy has been

Tues. July 8th. M/V Yankee Capts.

trying to hook one on a special squid jigger, but they are devilish crafty and always escape. We’ve even seen them dart in to feed on the smaller stuff up against the hull.

Have also had what I’m pretty sure were lanternfish (Myctophidae). Little bunches of 5 to 10 at the surface. Bluish-white light organs forward, swimming with lateral tail-motion, like fish. Moving very slowly, then would spook and dart off rapidly, the lights "shorting-out" in a bright flash to darkness. Single flying fish showed up also.

Highlight has been a juvenile Swordfish Xiphias gladius. Tiny (three to four inch), greenish-blue, "swimming dorsal fin" is the best way to describe it. At first I thought it was a sailfish, but swords apparently also possess a "sail" as juveniles. Swam mostly on its side, returning several times to the lighted water alongside. Resumed typical, dorso-ventral swimming posture once as a Greater Shearwater paddled over to have a look at it. Neat stuff!

We had an interesting encounter of our own with this same Greater Shearwater about a half-an-hour ago. It was getting a bit too interested in the squid jigger Kathy was using - diving and trying to grab it. We waved it off a few times and it eventually took flight. Once airborne, it circled the Capts. a few times, confused by the bright lights. Then, as we stared down into the lighted water, it made a crash-landing directly into us. I caught it from the right wing, Kathy from the left, and the head was wedged between us. Jay managed to extract the madly flapping bird and got it back into the water. After we recovered from the mild-shock of such a complete surprise, we all had a good laugh. Attacked by a "Kamikaze Shearwater." Probably the one that ran afoul of our trolling rig earlier, its mind bent upon revenge!

Turning in now. Early start tomorrow. We’ll get underway as soon as there is enough light to see things. The plan is to take a quick look at Hydrographer and then make a direct steam for Gloucester. Capts. Greg and Pete say it’s a 10 hour run from the head of Hydrographer to Eastern Point. Just heard another thump against the side of the cabin. Probably the same shearwater. Hope it can get clear of us and reorient before it knocks itself senseless!

4:30 A.M. N 40 05.5’, W 69 02.8’. Hydrographer Canyon. 400 fathoms. Clear. Vsby unlimited. Wind- S 7 to 10 knots. Two foot chop.

Day three. Getting underway up-canyon with the trolling spread already out. Turned out a half-hour ago for first light - just a crimson line on the horizon in an otherwise dark sky. Sctd low puffs of cumulus over the warm water to the southward. There’s finally some wind in the forecast- 15 to 25 knots from the southwest by mid-day as a cold front approaches from the west. Ray says he had a flurry of hook-ups very early this A.M. All Blue Sharks that were released. No tuna.

Jack-up to 16 knots on course 353M for return to Gloucester. Some glassy and rippling streaks here with Wilson’s Petrels feeding in them. Bait slicks or tide-lines?

Our brief look at Hydrographer turned up two groups of 15 to 20 Delphinus, including some nice bow-riders and several calves. Usual birds. Had a double hook-up at sunrise. Boated one of them - a 30 pound Yellowfin Tuna. Trolling rig is stowed now. Water was cool - down to 66 degrees in mid-canyon and 68 here. Could be some shelfwater drawn out over the upper slope.

We’ve got a small sofa (!?!) in the water here and - prime piece of real estate that it is - there are several big Triggerfish or Filefish (up to a foot long) underneath.

Run up from the canyon-head has featured two groups of Delphinus - 30 to 40 bow-riding at 7:00 and 40 to 60 at 7:20 in 44 fathoms(N 40 27’, W 69 10’). The second group was really clipping to the westward, then slowed and milled at the surface as if feeding. They had several Greater Shearwaters over them. Cory’s Shearwaters and Wilson’s in addition to the Greaters for birds. Several Blue Sharks and an Ocean Sunfish. The Blue Sharks seem to like this 63 to 66 degree water. We had a lot of them in similar water on southern Georges Monday afternoon.

Running northward up over the eastern edge of the Nantucket Shoals inside of the shipping lanes. Passed the "12" Asia Rip buoy at 8:50. Ten minutes later we went into a dense bank of white fog clinging to the tide-stirred, 53 degree water. A far cry from the 80 degrees back out at the shelf-edge! Vsby has been zero since, despite the blue sky and sunshine overhead. Lot of life here, but we can only see what is immediately alongside the boat. Good numbers of Wilson’s Petrels and Shearwaters (Greater, Manx, and Sooty) plus a lot of gulls. Had about 100 Lags off Asia Rip at 8:50 and a few other small groups scattered here and there.

12:30 P.M. N 41 36’, W 69 41’. ~7 miles east of "PR" Pollock Rip buoy. 20 fathoms. Course 353M. Sunny. Clear. Vsby- 3 miles in fog and haze. Wind- SSW 17 to 21 knots. Sea- three feet.

Spent the last 15 minutes here with a mother-calf pair of Humpbacks. Lisa and Josh ID’d the mother as "V-Dot." They put on a spectacular display of breaching in the building chop. One after another right alongside and just ahead of us. The fog began to

Wed. July 9th. M/V Yankee Capts.

lift about a half-an-hour ago as it breezed-up sharply from the southwest. Lots of stern-ramp draggers and tuna boats in the area. Same mix of birds as in last entry, with the addition of Common Terns Sterna hirundo.

Not much to report. Scattered Common Terns and a few Laughing Gulls Larus atricilla along track. The breeze is really coming on to blow. We’re in the lee of the outer Cape so we’ve only got a four foot sea. Once we get outside the lee of Provincetown things could get a bit sloppy. We deserve a little bit of weather, given what we had out in the deep water.

The run up from outside the lee of Provincetown to here was pretty sloppy. South-southwest around 25 knots with six foot seas taking us on the port quarter. Did a couple of rolls that sent stuff flying across the cabin and one of the fish boxes sliding across the deck in the stern. Once we got past the "BE" buoy the breeze started to fall off a little bit and the ride improved.

Spent the last half-hour here with the rest of the whale-watching fleet. Our last stop of the trip. Quite a few Humpbacks scattered over the corner. We focused on three big ones, including ID’d individuals "Flag" and "Hancock." Great close-to-boat encounter with spy-hops, rolling, flipper-slapping, and lob-tailing right alongside. 25 Wilson’s Petrels, 5 Greater Shearwaters, and a couple of Laughing Gulls around these whales.

Just tied up. Not much on the run in from the NW Corner. We did have a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel just outside the jetties as we took Eastern Point abeam at 6:04. Clouds lowered and thickened on the way in with a wind shift to NW around 15 knots. The sea took on a steely-gray color with lots of whitecaps. It was really dark off to the northwest, suggesting a thundersquall. Just as we came down the channel into Yankee Fleet Base the sky opened up and it started to rain. A fantastic trip and a great bunch of people. Can’t wait for next year’s version.

Quick summary:

Cetaceans (10 species)

Finback Whale 6

Minke Whale 14

Humpback Whale 28

Sperm Whale 4

Atl.White-sided Dolphin 314

Common Dolphin 260

Wed. July 9th. M/V Yankee Capts.

Bottlenose Dolphin 95

Gray Grampus 91

Pilot Whale 348

Beaked Whale sp. 5-6

Pelagic Birds (12 species)

Greater Shearwater 554

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel 402

Sooty Shearwater 60

Leach’s Storm-Petrel 25

Cory’s Shearwater 18

Audubon’s Shearwater 11

Manx Shearwater 9

Northern Gannet 1

Pomarine Jaeger 1

Jaeger sp. 2

Northern Fulmar 2

South Polar Skua 1