April 30th Fantastic news and just in time for Mother's Day! The Center for Coastal Studies spotted a couple of new moms including, big drum roll please, Salt and her ninth calf!!

May 30, 2003 It's official - Salt's newest calf has a name. In honor of the late Aaron Avellar, the Avellar family has the distinction of being able to name Salt's calves. Her ninth calf in 2003 has now been officially named "Wasabi." And, in case you are wondering, wasabi is a spicy Japanese condiment. July 27, 2003 We had the most amazing day! We had Salt and Wasabi (her 2003 calf) hanging out with Cygnus this morning. Salt and Wasabi Dorsal Fins Salt and Wasabi Flukes Salt's Fluke

August 1, 2003 In spite of the rain, wind, and fog (might as well throw it all into the mix) we had a great day yesterday with 8-10 humpbacks and 20-25 minke whales. Cygnus, Salt and Wasabi, and Barb (Batik's brother and Filament's uncle) are all still hanging around. Most interesting though has been Salt's behavior. She is usually all business showing very little interest in much of anything. However this past week she gave one of the whale watch boats a close approach and yesterday she breached! Not shabby for a known grandmother! August 5, 2003 Salt and Wasabi, Cygnus and Sirius have been staying put on the southeast side of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary for the last couple of weeks. Lots of rain and fog this afternoon but worth it to see Salt feeding and Wasabi lobtailing! August 8, 2003 Despite a torrential downpour to start the day out, we ended up having an amazing day. We had Istar, Salt and Wasabi, Cygnus, Sirius and about 8 other whales feeding cooperatively in one huge bubble net. Wasabi left the feeding group of adult humpbacks and hung around on the sidelines, flipper slapping and tail breaching. August 9, 2003 This afternoon we had a group of 12 humpbacks feeding together, including Salt and Cygnus. Istar, however, was off on her own away from the group. August 11, 2003 Another great day yesterday, with, yes, more rain). It was especially interesting to watch some of the surface feeding in the afternoon. There were at least 8 whales (including Salt, Cygnus, and Sirius) feeding cooperatively in a huge bubble net. Salt was always the first one up through the net, mouth wide open. It makes you wonder if she controls the group or does she make the net all by herself. August 18, 2003 We had Salt and Wasabi breaching this morning and Cygnus and Sirius are still hanging out too! August 30, 2003 We had an absolutely stellar day yesterday with whales and weather. It was a curious calf day as Wasabi (Salt's 2003 calf) came over and checked us out! Salt stayed close by but when she dove, Wasabi was a good kid and immediately left with Mom. September 3, 2003 Some of the whales have moved into an inshore feeding area, west of Stellwagen Bank, and appear to be feeding on something other than sandlance, maybe euphasiids (krill)? They are using different feeding styles than we normally see when they are corralling fish. There were also a number of basking sharks in the same area. It must be good stuff as Coral, Salt and Wasabi were all there feasting. September 23, 2003 Haven't seen Scylla since May but she showed up the other day when we started seeing huge amounts of, what looks like, "tinker" mackeral on Stellwagen Bank. Salt and Wasabi showed up after a few weeks away too. September 28, 2003 Photos of Salt and Wasabi as they came right under the whale watch boat last week (week of September 21st). Gave everyone an unexpected thrill. October 3, 2003 We had a decent trip today. The whales were taking lengthy dives, but there were a few familiar Humpbacks around including Salt and her newest calf, Wasabi, as well as Coral.

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