Yankee Fleet Providing ocean adventures since 1944

August 7, 2005 Florida Keys Citizen

Yankee's Dandee 20th - Tortugas Ferry Celebrates Anniversary
By Chelsea Solmo

KEY WEST - The Yankee Freedom II is celebrating its 20th anniversary of ferrying people over to the Dry Tortugas.

The business started up in Massachusetts and was first brought down to Key West in 1976. Originally, it was just a fishing boat taking people out on charters. When the weather got rough, the boat would pull into the Tortugas for safety, so passengers would visit the shore. The shore visits were such a success that the fishing charters started pulling up to the fort no matter what the weather was.

In 1985, the new boat the Yankee Ferry was built. Its primary purpose was to ferry people out on day trips to the Tortugas. In 1999, the company built the current boat, a fast 100-foot ocean catamaran, and christened it the Yankee Freedom II. The new boat only takes 2 1-2 hours to get passengers out to the fort.

"What made us so successful as a fleet is that we reacted to the way people got so excited when they first saw the Tortugas," said Jerry Hill, company owner and principal captain. "We reacted to the enthusiasm."

The boat venture begins at 8 a.m. on Margaret Street, where passengers embark for an on-board continental breakfast. The boat, which has the capacity for 250, takes only a maximum of 100 customers, plus a crew of five and a naturalist as a guide. Once at the Tortugas, passengers disembark to take a nature walk or guided tour of the fort, swim or snorkel, or clamber to the top level to look for birds on Bush Key via binoculars.

Lunch is provided by the Yankee Freedom II, which serves a complimentary picnic lunch on the grounds. At 3 p.m., it's back on board to head back to Key West. The boat makes it back home by about 5:30 p.m.

The Yankee Freedom II staff prides itself on being in tune with nature.

"The fact that over the years we have been very environmentally aware is what I am most proud of about the ferry," said Katherine Roach, who heads up public relations for the company.

On Jan. 9, the company was accepted for membership in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Performance Track. Members pledge to "protect and preserve the natural and cultural resources through wise environmental stewardship." The Yankee Freedom II is one of 11 Florida companies accepted into the program.

Rick Cook is public affairs officer for both the Everglades and the Dry Tortugas national parks. He said he values the business that the ferries and seaplanes bring to the island.

"They [the Yankee Freedom II] have a business interest, but we also have an interest to get people out in the park -- the park belongs to the people," Cook said. "It's good service all around."

The Dry Tortugas has become a major attraction for families who come to spend the day on the beach and explore the fort.

"We never thought it was going to be a place that families would enjoy and appreciate," Hill said. "We thought it was only going to be an attraction for the elderly [who] have the time. I'm so glad about the turnout."

Hill said he has had great experiences in the business since he started in Massachusetts. When he talks of his times up north, he lapses more into the New England accent that lingers after 30 years living on Geiger Key.

"It was extraordinary in the Tortugas [even] before it became a national park," Hill said. "It was like seeing a magnificent remote desert island appearing out of the horizon. It is still so beautiful when the birds come down in the spring.

"It's just a really beautiful place."

Hill values first-timers' experience to the island, for his first time was the impetus for his ferry business. Kid passengers may enter the pilothouse and draw pictures of their first impression of the Tortugas on the horizon. The pictures are posted inside the pilothouse for future passengers to see.

8/14/05 Boston Globe

For Whales and their Watchers, a Season of Might and Majesty
By Kathy McCabe

Freckles charged from the open ocean, twirling her 80,000-pound body in the air before quickly slipping back into the green, murky sea about 20 miles off Gloucester.

The Humpback Whale was roaming the plum feeding grounds on the northern edge of Stellwagen Bank, where the world's biggest marine mammals are making a big splash this summer.

After several spotty seasons, more varied species of whales are swimming in greater numbers off Gloucester, Newburyport, and Portsmouth than in recent years, whale researchers say, bolstering a struggling whale watch industry and heartening marine scientists.

Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales, with a population estimated at just 350, are rarely spotted locally but have been regular visitors this summer. A whale watch trip from Gloucester (with Yankee Whale Watching) last Tuesday spotted five of them, including a mother and calf, rolling around the water's surface, flapping their tails.

''We're very lucky," says Deanna Leonard, assistant director of the Center for Oceanic Research and Education in Essex, who also narrates whale watch trips for Yankee Fleet of Gloucester.

Sei, Fin, Minke, and the odd Pilot Whale have also been spotted up and down the coast more frequently as they chase favorite prey such as sand eels and herring.

But most surprising is the frequent sightings of right whales, which normally are found this time of year in the Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and Maine, observers say.

''This is definitely a late-season treat for people," says Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium. ''One thing people don't realize is how endangered this species is."

Migration routes typically bring whales north from the Caribbean and Florida to feast in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, which stretches from Cape Cod to Maine. But unlike recent years, local waters this summer are particularly rich with plankton, herring, mackerel, sand eels, and copepods, a favorite food of right whales, boat captains say.

''There is more feed around this year," says Paul Frontierro, owner of Seven Seas Whale Watch in Gloucester and a former fisherman. ''It seemed like there was a lull in previous years. . . . The ocean moves in cycles. And it seems as if we had been at the low end of the cycle, as far as drawing feed here. Now it's taking a swing back."

The right whale, protected from commercial fishing since 1935, again is in the national spotlight. An article published last month in the journal Science reported that right whales may be even more endangered than previously thought.

The article, prepared in part by researchers at the New England Aquarium, suggests that as many as 47 right whales, including pregnant females, may have died in accidents in the last 16 months. Previously, the government had confirmed eight right whale deaths, due mainly to collisions with ships and entanglements with fishing gear.

In Science, researchers wrote that the eight confirmed deaths prove that the federal government's efforts to protect the species are ''woefully inadequate . . . much stronger measures are needed to reverse the right whale's decline."

The scientists's opinions come as the federal government considers new measures to protect right whales. They include requiring ships to slow down when moving through shipping channels and requiring commercial fishermen to use nets and lines that would be less likely to tangle up a whale.

''What we're trying to do now is work with [shipping companies] to identify areas where there is a good deal of overlap between large whales, particularly right whales," says Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for National Marine Fisheries Service, a government agency, in Gloucester. ''We're trying to reduce the chance of a collision."

The new rules, expected to be ready by early 2006, probably won't affect whale watch businesses, which already must follow strict guidelines. Still, the rules come as the industry recovers from lean times. A lack of whales hurt business in recent years. Now, rising gas prices and insurance premiums, along with expensive docking fees, have forced whale watch companies to raise ticket prices and cut back on midweek trips, operators say.

''We've had to pay closer attention to expenses," says Jim Douglass, owner of Cape Ann Whale Watch in Gloucester. ''And it's really paying off. Our costs are down . . . and the whales have come back just in time. We've had plenty of great sightings."

The late-summer whale sightings have helped rescue a whale watch season that endured stormy weather in April and May and elusive whales in June. But all that has changed.

''The whales are spectacular," says Lindsay Reynolds, co-owner of Granite State Whale Watch in Rye, N.H. ''We've seen them out on every single trip, except maybe one."

Captain Bill Neelon owner of Newburyport Whale Watch Co., said right whales were spotted in the last month as close as four miles off Plum Island. Earlier in the season, pilot whales, which usually travel in pods, were spotted out on Jeffreys Ledge by Granite State Whale Watch.

''Those were both very rare sightings," says Reynolds. ''We hadn't seen a pilot whale up here in two years. . . . We've seen right whales six times. Generally, you're lucky if you get one good look at them a year."

Leonard, a scientist at Yankee Fleet in Gloucester, says the bounty of species has created new interest in whale biology. Passengers have been especially interested in learning about the whales' feeding habits and reproductive methods.

''People are fascinated by the numbers. They want to know how much they weigh, how much they eat, how far they swim," she notes. ''And the good thing about this summer is, we have so many types of whales to show them."

But on a recent trip, Freckles, the friendly humpback, was the star of the sea, with no right whale around to steal the show.

Another humpback and a fin whale swam around her. But Freckles's spout was easy to spot, even in mist on a humid morning.

''It is magnificent to see a whale in its natural environment," said Phyllis Hunter, an Ipswich native now living in England who visits Gloucester twice a year to go whale watching. ''They're creatures of habit. . . . They're really amazing animals."