Everyone quickly walked to the port side of the boat. We were on board the Portugese Princess, a handsome vessel operated by the Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown. A small Asian woman weaved her way in front of me, her arms and camera already up. I tried to squeeze myself over to the white metal railing near the bow but there was a solid wall of eager onlookers. I zoomed the lens in past their shoulders focusing on the dark blue water in front of us and held Joey’s camera firmly in my right hand even though the strap was tight around my wrist.
Everyone swayed gently with the boat, but otherwise did not move, each eagerly frozen with cameras at the ready. Suddenly, emerging from the depths of the watery blackness surfaced a large lumpy blue and white head with tiny eyes, which then turned, and as silently as it had come it was gone.
Earlier, at the beginning of our voyage, a giant whale a short distance from where we stood on the lower deck of the Portuguese Princess dove beneath the dark surface. It flipped its great white speckled tailfin up in the air, almost as if to say keep watching right here, then moments later it came hurling from beneath revealing its massive deep blue back and stark white underbelly. The waves violently erupted beneath the whale’s immense weight as it hit the water and exaggerated ripples slapped against the side of the boat begging for an encore.
There were five whales off the port side as the boat raced along after them who teased us by blowing great bursts of air and a spray of seawater up into the sky. It had begun to rain and everyone stood cloaked in plastic rain gear, holding their hoods in one hand and cameras in the other praying the shot would be steady but not tearing their eyes from the place the whales had just been.
The whale watch in Provincetown was a great way to kick off the second Tuesday in a long line of spectacular Tuesdays to come. Stay tuned America.
-Sarah
The whale watch in Provincetown was a great way to kick off the second Tuesday in a long line of spectacular Tuesdays to come. Stay tuned America.
-Sarah
