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A Whale’s Tail

June 23rd, 2008

We may never go on a whale watching tour again.

Not because of sea sickness. Not because the tour was bad. Not because we didn’t see any whales.

Actually, the opposite – we were spoiled with the number of whale sightings and the incredible number of behaviors we saw! We sailed on a large boat to a feeding ground called Stellwagen Bank, a plateau at the Massachusetts Bay’s eastern edge. Here the current comes up to the bank and carries nutrients with it, making a great spot for whale feeding. While we were there, we saw an abundance of fish which were even visible from the water’s surface.

We saw up to 10 different Humpback Whales, including a mom and her calf.

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Humpback Whales can be identified by the pattern on their tales and after they are a few years old, they are given a name. We saw Echo with her calf. Echo was first sited in 1988. A NOAA website says, “Echo has a great tail to identify. Her left and right flukes are very similar in pattern, however, on the left fluke near the leading edge is a very distinguishing mark. This mark reminded researchers of the depiction of an echowave from a dolphin or bat. And so, she was given the appropriate name of Echo. This mark may have been caused by an attacking orca whale.”

We felt really blessed to see this many whales at one time.

We took a lot of photographs.

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Here’s a small collection of my photos! Not much color contrast, though. 🙁

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2 comments to “A Whale’s Tail”

  1. Beautiful photos. Oh those last two give me goosebumps. You were so close. What a special time. I am so impressed with how you remembered all the information. Did you keep a journal? Thanks for sharing your adventures.


  2. Oh Wow! You did see a lot of whales. Lucky you! 🙂