On the morning we left Hog Island, after a delicious big breakfast at Moody's in Waldaboro, we headed to Gloucester, MA, for a whale watch. I've never seen a whale in the wild and was very excited, taking my binoculars so I could see them.
Well, I didn't need those.
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| See how the white markings glow green under water? |
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| Mom, calf, and escort whale |
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| Terrible thumbprint, but I was raising my phone above my head, without looking. That is just the splash caused by the tail of these school-bus-sized creatures. |
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| Yep, they really do blow! But it's mist caused by warm air of their lungs hitting the cold air above the sea and a little bit of water covering their blow holes. We could see these at great distance, which was almost mythical. |
Those are all pictures taken without zoom on my cellphone! I included the people in the photos so you can see how close the whales came to our boat.
We were in the Stellwagen Marine Reserve not far off the coast, in a large boat with about 150 other people (there was enough room to move around, though, and it didn't feel like that many.) We came across whales almost immediately, seeing 12 humpbacks in total by the end of the 3-hour cruise (anyone singing "Gilligan's Island"?) A calf, mother, and escort came right up to our boat, with the calf rolling around in the water and spy-hopping to get a look at us. Later, another whale smacked its tail about a dozen times; in the distance, I actually saw a whale nose-breach out of the water, causing a huge splash! The announcer kept us informed about the names of the whales, which have been studied here for decades, and other details--including their unique fluke markings that help with identification, the "fluke print" left on the water after the downward thrust of the tail, the reasons for certain behaviors ("fluking"--to remove parasites or communicate by slapping the water, etc.), their migration habits and motivations (they birth in warmer equatorial waters for the calf's sake; there is no food for them there so they have to head north quickly--they fast the whole time they're down there), gestation and birth (almost a year! Calves are born tail-first so they don't drown, since whales are mammals and need air), and other things.
Even the crew were impressed with how many whales and different whale behaviors we saw. Mama and Goo, who had been whale-watching before, just couldn't believe it. It was definitely a magical end to a great week.
