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August 17, 2003

Whale Watching Time

And all went reasonably well...

One member of our party was stuck in NYC thanks to the blackouts, but the rest of us managed our trek out 25 miles from the NH seacoast to where the whales spend their summer.

The first whale was a shy and unpredictable mienke, pretty much what I'd come to expect in August whale-watches (this being my fourth). Pat didn't even manage to catch a glimpse, looking over just too late every time. We expected this to be repeated for the rest of the time watching (around 90 minutes), but were very surprised.

The naturalist was amazed at our luck, and all of us regretted that prior experience had led us to leave our cameras behind, because this time, rather than occasional and unpredictable whales, we were able to follow a half-sleeping finback for a good 20 minutes. The white stretches of the whale's body were visible just under the surface the whole time, and as he (or she, as it's difficult to tell without getting a good bit closer than we were willing to) surfaced to breath, the patch of greenish-white became notably larger, so plenty of warning was to be had. Those with cameras no doubt got some great shots. Apparently, whales sleep with only part of their brain at a time, leaving just enough active so they can float just under the water and surface to breath regularly, behavior our naturalist called "logging" (behaving like a floating log). She said it was rare to catch this.

After our slumbering finback, we followed a smallish pod of playful dolphins for a dozen minutes or so. Lots of jumping and play was observed, and they clearly outpaced our boat, swimming circles around us quite literally. Finding dolphins is just a matter of luck, as they move so quickly, so again, our naturalist was telling us how fortunate we were this cruise.

Our last whale was a rather energetic finback who all but lept clear of the surface with each breath, and then offered us a brief but memorable glimpse of tail-fins as it dove deep after the last pass.

Julia was picked to do a before-and-after survey by the student-naturalist on the cruise, I'm thinking to show if people listen to the facts given over the speakers and retain any new information. Of course, she had most of the answers right in the "before" quiz (with some help from Lou and I).

Plus, thunderstorms held off until the drive from the harbor to dinner, so we had a perfect watch and perfect weather... If we hadn't been Jeanne-less and hadn't gotten stuck for 20 minutes on the drive back due to an accident that blocked the whole road, I'd say it was a perfect day. Even as it was, it has to score quite high marks.

I'll catch up on RP-memes tonight or tomorrow... right now, I'm going to nap for a bit.

Posted by ghoul at August 17, 2003 11:59 AM

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