Thar she blows!
Took an early-morning whale-watching cruise from the wharf at the New England Aquarium.
And quite a ride it turned out to be. The tail end of hurricane Ophelia was still churning somewhere down to the south, and the waters were occasionally choppy. However, keeping the eyes on the horizon and facing the wind as much as possible kept seasickness at bay. Barely.
The ship was quite big, a catamaran ship that could seat probably 100 people comfortably. With viewing decks on all three levels, it allowed pretty much guaranteed visibility for all participants.
Rode in the uppermost deck, which was a cold choice. Temperature dropped steadily after leaving the dock - and wearing a hefty fleece became mandatory quite soon indeed.
The ship made good progress to Stellwagen Bank, about 50 kilometers from Boston, where the first critters were sighted. The ship cruised slowly for about an hour - during which four different whale species appeared. The headliner of the show was Humpback Whale (ryhävalas in finnish). A couple of individuals were seen, some of them surfacing very close to the boat, with the requisite finslapping and tail-waving performances. A Finback Whale (sillivalas in finnish) was also seen a couple of times, but it behaved in much more timid fashion. A shoal of Harbour Porpoises (pyöriäinen in finnish) followed a fishing boat encountered on the bank, looking for an easy meal. I missed the sighting of a Minke Whale (lahtivalas in finnish), yet another member of the baleen group. Had seen a couple of humpbacks before in British Columbia, and their antics were indeed the highlight of the trip, but the finback was the biggest animal I’ve ever seen (and it clocks in as the second biggest mammal - only the blue whale is bigger than it).
Decided that I need a better book on whales than the six-pager available on the ship. Time to scour bookstores for decent volumes on the subject.
Ambled back to the hotel after a bit of random shopping: cranberry tea, lonely planet calendar for ‘06 and a cap of the local baseball team (the first one fit tried out perfectly and was a steal at 10$).
Leave a comment