There are many majestic and awe-inspiring animals in the world, but there’s nothing that compares to the blue whale, the largest animal on earth.
Recently, one group of whale watchers got the experience of a lifetime after getting an very rare look at a blue whale in Massachusetts.
Cape Ann Whale Watch is a whale watching tour group based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They almost always spot at least one whale on their tours, so much so that they offer a guarantee.
But while you might see a humpback or two, odds are usually slim that you’ll see a blue whale, which are typically extremely rare for the Massachusetts waters.
But the staff was left stunned this week when a massive blue whale was spotted twice in one day, in two different tour trips. “We got to see this ‘largest animal on our planet’ on both of our trips today,” the company wrote on Facebook.
“Our naturalist shed tears and could barely speak, interns too had tears and were in total awe,” they continued, calling it the “best day ever.”
The company wrote that the blue whale was “not common to our waters at all,” and the last sighting was over 20 years ago.
There were rumors that there was a blue whale in the area, though no one had yet found it. Christina McMahon-Foley, the educational director and senior naturalist at Cape Ann Whale Watch, told MassLive that the animal was likely drawn to the Massachusetts waters because of an increase in krill, their primary food source.
“For somebody like myself who’s been in the field for 30 years. It’s just [a] once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience that I can’t really help other people understand,” McMahon-Foley said. “I’m out there every day, April through October, and blue whales tend not to come to these waters. So to see the largest animal that’s ever been on our planet… it felt like a gift.”
It was an unforgettable moment for the tour group as well as the staff. In a video you can hear people cheer in amazement, especially when the whale exhales a massive blow. (The company says that a blue whale’s blow can reach 30 feet high.)
The blue whale is the largest animal on earth and the largest known animal to ever exist: they can reach 98 feet long and weigh nearly 200 tonnes. “This whale was almost as long as our 115 foot boat!” Cape Ann Whale Watch wrote.
If the once-in-a-lifetime sight of the blue whale wasn’t enough, the tour group reportedly also saw humpback whales, finwhales, sharks, dolphins and a pod of harbor porpoise.
What an amazing sight! It must be a truly unforgettable experience to see a blue whale in person 😮🐳
Please share this story!
