Dad's Whale of a Day

My Dad is retired, and has always enjoyed fishing. So once a week, weather permitting, he goes deep sea fishing, out of Newburyport, MA, on a day trip boat.

On fishing trips with my family, I have had better whale encounters than on most official whale watches I've been on. The boats cannot and do not go into protected areas, but the whales, of course, go whever they please. Almost every trip he at least sees a couple minkes, and sightings of humpbacks and finbacks are not rare either - the waters off the Massachusetts coat are good fishing for everycritter.

Well today was a first. He called to say it was a beautiful day on the water, pretty, sunny, he caught lots of "exercise" fish - too small to keep, so they carefully take the hook out and put them back. Exercise for the fisherman's arm, reeling them up, and exercise for the fishy to swim back down.

But the most amazing part of the day was they had a big old humpback BACK into the boat! They were on their way out to where they'd be fishing, and the captain spotted the whale. He immediately throttled back, and shut off the props completely, so there'd be no chance of the whale getting hurt. There are rules about how close a boat can get to the whales, but the whales, of course, haven't read the rulebook.

So the boat is just idling, waiting, and the captain said "Where'd he go?" and Dad shouted back - "He's under the bow!" Dad (who has been out on the ocean since childhood - a long time ago) didn't know whales could go backwards until he saw this guy just back right into the boat! Then the whale went down and breached right next to them - Dad said he had really bad fish-breath!

Whale was unharmed, and once he was well away, both whale and boat resumed their day. They saw a couple other younger humpies, too, but the big guy was the highlight of the day for everyone!

How amazing!!! I've always been intrigued by whales...I bet your dad really enjoyed that experience.

Very cool!! :)

Oh Karen, that's fabulous! What a treat for your father! I love whales, I think they are so smart. And so interesting, they are mammals just like and I'm sure that they have so much to say...it only we could understand them!
Thanks for sharing...! Would it be too much to hope that they put down their fishing rods and grabbed some cameras??? ;)

(only could use those words..)

hmmm, karen, you know.. when you love something so much - that it's your love, started from its childhood especially. completely "from-love" dream. you always get a miracle sighting. that just happens to your father! it's not a surprise to me.

and that made me smile,.. absolutely wonderful for him, and us too! :)

oh, I had to laugh on fishy breath! thanks for sharing. :cool:

:cool:

Hey ... when ya got an ITCH,

ya gotta SCRATCH!

Poor guy had prolly been lookin for a Scratchin Boat all morning!

;)

:D

Wow.:D I would have loved to have an experience like that.

That sounds exciting! Yea, to bad no pictures! :)

WOW! I'd love to see a whale up close and personal! I'm glad your dad got to.:D

Wow! That's such a fun and exciting story!

I got the "chills", Karen, just reading about your dad's encounter. You know that one of the highlights of our trip to Massachusetts was going on the whale watch! Helen and I LOVED it (thanks to sweet Sandra who sent us on it). Your dad's day sounds perfect!!

Logan

The boat is usually pretty bereft of cameras - you really wouldn't want to take anything with you that couldn't get damp.

The crew has a camera for the pictures they take of the person who caught the biggest fish of the day - with fish in hand, of course - that they then post on their website, but at that point in the trip, the camera was still safely stowed in the cabin.

They joke that they don;t promise whale sightings - they're fishing boat - but they also won;t charge you whale watch prices if you DO see them!

How cool is that? That is sooooo exciting! I went on a whale watch out of Maine, we saw a few but never got very close....but we did get a whiff of whale breath - phew! :o I would LOVE to have an experience like that - how very exciting for your dad!

That is so cool! The best I've ever gotten to see were a few dolphins when I went fishing with my dad out on South Padre. But that's not nearly as exciting as your dad's whale encounter!