...there are no words...

***Miles travelled today: absolutely none in the car - but a few on foot and in a boat!!!

***Total Miles:

***States travelled through: In Massachusettes...

(This entry is for yesterday Wednesday 21.07.10)

The best comment of the day came from Jay about mid afternoon... "I feel like I'm on holiday..." Mmmm... I did remind her that we have actually been on holiday for 11 weeks and 2 days... but no seriously today has been very relaxing... we woke up at 08h45... that's the latest this entire holiday... I think the jet lag is catching up... anyway, we spent the morning at the pool... we are just reading and doing nothing... it was mid afternoon by the time we ventured into the town... I have never seen so many bicycles... parking is an absolute nightmare and so there is a bike rental company on nearly every corner... so tourists ans residents alike are all our cycling...there is a parking lot at the beach simply for bikes!!!

...anyway, we found a lovely little spot for a bite to eat and people watch...

we had decided that we wanted to go out on a whale watching tour... so having booked our tickets, we made our way down to the pier, and we were soon out on the boat... Now then, the company 'guarantees' sightings of whales... mmm... I may have spent nearly three months relaxing, but I am still sceptical... We headed out - and it seemed that we were going somewhere in particular... I said to Jay, that there was a huge cage in the sea, some miles out, and that when we got above it, we would see the whales... Jay was not impressed, and said that the little girl standing next to us would be off asking her Mom about the cage for the whales!!!

...I need to say that when we got onto the boat, Jay stood at the very front, the little bit that juts out... and there she stayed - she had the best spot on the boat - and she was not moving... if any whales were going to be seen, Jay was seeing them first!!!

...well - they actually had a marine whale expert on board as part of the commentary, and he was fascinating to listen to... and we saw a pod of three whales some 20m or so from the boat... he was able to tell us who they were, and one included a whale they call 'Salty' who they have been watching off this coast for the past 35 years since the study of whales began... every whale has unique markings on their tales, and so they all have names, so that the marine biologists are able to track them... one of the questions asked of him was how long whales actually live... he said that as they have only been studying them for 35 years they do not know... but... he said that the Eskimos in Northern Alaska are the only people who are legally allowed to hunt whales... and that every year, each whale that they kill, the Eskimos notify the marine biologists, providing them with photos of the whales tale so that they are able to tell the name of the whale... apparently last year they killed a whale, and embedded deep into the whale fat, the Eskimos found an arrow head that they have not used for over a hundred years - suggesting that the whale had been 'almost' caught many years ago...

Well, we carried on with the journey and came upon a pod of seven Humpback whales, six adults and a calf... well - I have to say, what an amazing experience... the whales were - at times - less than five metres from the boat... one of them actually swam right under the front part of the boat, and flipped his tail right at the side of the boat - any closer and he would have been on board... unfortunately the camera is not brilliant at close ups.... but we did manage to get a few shots of the tails... as they breached and then flipped their tails out of the water... we were at times so close that you actually saw their blow-holes, which look like huge nostrils... at times the sheer force of the water being blown out, would come over the boat... and as the marine biologist gut said, "It's considered very lucky in fishing circles to be hit by 'whale snot'!!!"

We watched and waited, as they would dive down for up to ten minutes at a time... then they would surface again and play on the water - before diving down again...

...as for why they were in that specific place... no whale cage... every year they return to the same waters...

We were out for nearly four hours, and as we were coming back into Provincetown harbour, the sun was setting... although it was muggy and looking like a storm was brewing...

We walked through the town and found a lovely spot for supper looking over the water...

...then made our way back to the hotel, where we were too tired to blog!!!