The weather in New England has been absolutely beautiful for about two weeks now, almost making up for the soggy gray summer we had going for the last several months. While it lasts, we decided to take advantage and treat Aiden to his first whale watch ever. Most of the whale watch boats that leave from coastal NH or MA go out to Jeffrey's Ledge, which is a long, shallow, rocky shelf that runs offshore from Maine to Mass. The abrupt shallowness creates an area of upwelling, where currents bring up lots of krill and plankton and other delicious marine organisms from the depths. So whales congregate there to feed. And guess what? So do pelagic seabirds! As my brother Micah said when I told him we were taking Aiden on a whale watch.... "we both know it aint whales you and Andy will be watching!"
But Aiden was looking for whales. One of his favorite books right now is "The Whale and the Snail" which Aunt Chris and Uncle Preston brought him from Nova Scotia. It's a cute story about a snail with an itchy foot that hitches a ride on the tail of a grey-blue humpack whale... he travels the world on that tail and sees shimmering ice and coral caves, shooting stars and enormous waves... and ends up saving the whale's life later in the story. Point being that every time a humpback was spotted, Aiden shouted "A great big grey-blue humpback whale! And a snail on his tail!!" It was priceless. And impressive, that he could see the snail. His eyesight must be better than mine ;)
Atlantic Queen out of Rye Harbor, NH
Seabrook Beach, before the whale watch
Greater Shearwater
We even got one life-bird out of the deal, a Cory's Shearwater. We saw Cory's, Greater, and Sooty Shearwaters, missing the shearwater grand slam by one (Manx). And besides humpacks we saw Fin Whales, Minke Whales, Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins, and Harbor Seals. All in all it was a terrific day. The only bummer was that the Downer clan was supposed to come with us but missed the boat due to a major traffic snafu on I-95. We can't wait to do it again though, so hopefully next time...
Atlantic White Sided Dolphins
Humpback Whale
Fin Whale
Rye Harbor
Dinner in Rye after the whale watch- YIKES, don't watch!
2 comments:
Wait, I don't get it. If you Ain't watching whales then what were you watching. Why go whale watching if you ain't watching whales? Seems silly. You are all crazy.
By the way Aiden...... WHAT IS THAT ON YOR HEAD?????Is that a Red Sox hat??? I hope not because you know what that would mean if it was..........TICKLE TOURTURE FOR AIDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ARGHHHHHHH!!!
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