Sea Mammals Seen
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Day 6: April 25, 2012 Sea Mammals Seen |
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This is the breakfast spread at Aerie House: fresh fruit, quiche, banana bread, and
much more. Everything was delicious. And, as promised, a peak at
my room. Four of the seven rooms at Aerie House
have their own baths while the other three share a pair of baths. It's
sort of like a common three-bedroom two-bath house. The rates are lower
for the rooms that share baths and, being a rate watcher, I selected one
of those. So here is a view of the baths filled
out with a photo taken from my window and a shot of the sink in my room.
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I hadn't even thought about it so was surprised to learn that it is whale
watching season in Provincetown. The whales are always here, I was told.
It's the tourists and weather that are seasonal. At this time of year,
Dolphin Fleet of
Provincetown has two cruises scheduled each day. Cancelling
yesterday's afternoon had been considered because of rough water but it
sailed as planned. The morning cruise had briefly encountered two or three
whales and the afternoon cruise saw four or five. I was hoping to do as
well as we pulled away from Provincetown and passed some seals guarding
the lighthouse.
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Clusters of birds can sometimes indicate the presence of whales and there
were certainly plenty of birds flying about. Below a group not terribly
far ahead, our first whale was spotted. My goal for the day was to get at
least one picture of a whale tail like those seen on commercials and
travel shows. That was soon accomplished. It might not be commercial
worthy but I got my picture and was a happy man.
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But that tail and that picture were just the beginning. My bad timing for
weather in Boston was more than offset by my good timing on my first whale
watch. It was lunch time off the tip of Cape Cod and some sort of all you
can eat special seemed to be really pulling 'em in. Mike, the fellow who
did the commentary on the boat, pointed out whales as they were spotted.
He once counted ten on the surface. At another point, after announcing
three or four in quick succession, he said he just couldn't keep up with
them.
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And tails weren't the only whale parts visible.
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In the third picture here, a finback whale breaks the surface while a
buddy does a headstand just beyond. Mike's end of cruise summary included
four finbacks, at least twenty-five humpbacks, and a couple hundred
white-sided dolphins. Despite their numbers, I never did get a decent
picture of a white-sided dolphin as they zipped along just below the
surface or flashed by just above it. Mike and others stressed that this
was not normal. When going on a whale watch your only expectations should
be for a nice boat ride with merely hopes for spotting a whale or two.
Today was extraordinary.
ADDENDUM: May 14, 2012 - The Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown keeps a tally
of sightings and posts it on their website. The "official"
score for our cruise was:
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In traveling west to east, I naturally stopped first at Plymouth and then
at Province. The Pilgrims, traveling east to west, did it the other way
around. They actually spent several weeks here, life was slower then, and
even signed the famous Mayflower Compact while here. But it is Plymouth
and that numbered rock that gets most of the attention and the residents
of Provinctown resent that just a little. Evidence of that resentment can
be seen in the great granite challenge. Recall the the National Monument
to the Forefathers in Plymouth which I stopped at on Tuesday is the largest
granite sculpture in the United States. This is the Pilgrim Monument and it
is the tallest granite structure in the United States. The sculpture was finished in 1889;
The tower in 1910. Fundraising for the two probably overlapped. In my
imagination, crowds once stood on opposite sides of the bay with one side
shouting "weighs more" to the other's "it's taller".
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