A Whale of a Day

Friday, August 5, 2010:

One of my Mom's passions is to go on a whale watch. Luckily, she is joined in her eagerness by Karen and John. They tend to make this activity an annual event, and this year was to be Gabriel's first time on a whale watch. I decided to make it

my first time as well. I have shied away from this activity in the past because I have a tendency towards seasickness, but I planned ahead and brought my Dramamine with me.

We made our excursion on one of the boats in the Dolphin fleet. The family that started the Dolphin whale watch tours are pioneers in this industry. It was in the mid-1970s that they expanded their charter fishing business to include boat tours devoted exclusively to whale-watching. They were the first tour group to do so. Now, whale watching cruises are popular in many locations on the shores of the US. But Provincetown was the first to offer them!

The coast off New England is uniquely well situated for whale watch tours because it is the location of the Stellwagen Bank. The Stellwagen Bank is a 200 foot deep, miles long bank that is ideal for the feeding habits of whales.

Our whale watch experience began at 11:00 a.m. We pulled away from the dock and headed out to the Stellwagen Bank. It takes about an hour to get there, but I was assured we would see some smaller whales and/or dolphins along the way. Well, we didn't see anything. Over an hour passed, and Karen was getting just a bit upset.

Finally, we saw a small group of boats and sailboats clustered together. And there was something going on in the water nearby. A group of whales was surfacing and then diving for food. We joined these other boats and

were thoroughly entertained for the next 45 minutes.

There were six whales in this group. The whales were recognizable to the crew of our boat. They see the same whales all the time, and they have given names to most of them. In the group we were observing, the youngest whale was a "baby" that was only about a year old. He was the most frisky of the group. But we were entertained by them all as they surfaced, swam about, and dove. It was a great excursion and a great day.