A Whale of an Afternoon

Humpback whale feeding on krill and small fish.

This graphic shows how large these whales are.

One of the biggest reasons people visit Cape Cod is the opportunity to view whales relatively close to shore. We thought our chance was gone after a spell of rainy, windy weather that forced the whale watching fleets to remain in the Provincetown harbor. But, on our final day on the Cape, we caught a break and took a 3 hour whale watch trip out to Stellwagon Bank, a shallow spot in the ocean off the tip of Cape Cod and one of the most accessible places to view migrating humpback whales. Humpbacks are large (40 to 50 feet long and 80,000 pounds) baleen whales that spend the winter months in the Carribbean and the summer feeding months in the waters of the cold North Atlantic. They eat krill and small fish, mostly by blowing rings of bubbles below the surface which "herds" the fish in a big circle, allowing the whale to fill its massive lower jaw with thousands of fish as it slowly rises to the surface. A trip on a commercial whale watching vessel is a great way to observe these amazing creatures up close.