Whales CTY Summer Session 4 Day 2

Day 2
7/31/08

Greetings from our little piece of paradise! After the fantastic day yesterday, I thought it would be IMPOSSIBLE to have as much fun today, but I was most definitely proved wrong. After awakening from a lovely night sleeping on deck, we were treated to our first ever breakfast by Thornton (the Lady Maryland cook). Mmmmmm...Boy was that cranberry orange coffee cake YUMMY! We all helped with the dishes and did a wash down of the deck, which is more fun than it sounds! When you are sitting on a boat with waves lapping on the deck, even scraping crud out of pots is enjoyable! After all the cleaning, we headed down the dock for a professional whale watching excursion. I had pretty low expectations because the whales were so amazing from the Lady Maryland the day before and a thick fog didn't help my spirits. But we were treated pretty early on to a lone humpback showing us its fluke, nice and slow, perfect for taking photos. Soon, we met up with Salt, a well known humpback around Stellwagen Bank, who was nursing her calf. We stayed with the pair for quite a while, untile the calf became very curious. It swam RIGHT UNDER THE BOW where we were standing, spraying us all with whale snot from its blow hole. We could have touched it, it was so close. The calf then turned onto its back, and started flapping it fluke, getting us all wet! On our way back to P-Town, we came upon some humpbacks bubble feeding. Bubbling feeding is where whales blow bubbles around a school of fish, trapping them. Then, the whale swims through the school and sometimes out of the water, so you get a great view of the open mouths filled with baleen. I headed upstairs to talk to the boat's scientist about whales. It was the best decision I have ever made. When I raeched the upper level, I caught a glimpse of a humpback. As I followed it with my eyes, it suddenly leaped out of the water, breaching. It breached again two more times before disappearing. It was a stunning, once in a life time moment. The power and grace of the whale was simply magical. It is an even I will remember for the rest of my life. The whale watching ended with a group of four fin whales, the second largest whale. When we got back to P-Town, we headed to the Whydah Pirate museum, home to the world's only pirate treasure. We also took a trip to the real, flushing toilets, which are a huge step up from the head on the ship. We left P-Town and sailed through the Cape Cod Bay and towards New Bedford. We had our first real watch/class rotation which went well. Right before we went through the Cape Cod Canal, we put out a trawl net.
Among other things, we caught two skates, and fish, spider crabs, sand dollars and a star fish. We got to touch EVERYTHING! I even got to put a starfish on my face. We enjoyed a lovely dinner while motoring down the Cape Cod Canal. Late tonight, we will anchor somewhere near New Bedford, awaiting and exciting day. I have night watch tonight from 10 to 11 or 2200-2300 in sailing langauge.
Written by Meghan Shea