Date: 2003-09-08
From: Pittsfield, Mass.

To: Glouster, Mass.
Miles today: 0.0

Well, we have one more day before Jerry flies back to Florida, so what to do?! For a person that has never been up here before, there are a million things to do and see, but we managed to narrow it down to one....whale watching!If you have never been whale watching before, do yourself a favor and put it on your life's list of things to do. You cannot begin to imagine what it is like to see a whale come up out of the water right next to your boat! Once again, however, I am getting ahead of myself!We drove up to Glouster, Mass. to get tickets aboard the Yankee Fleet. I have been whale watching five times over the last six or seven years, and I have always used this company. They work hand in hand with an ocean research facility, and every trip they take is a research-gathering trip. With scientists and whale experts on board, I have always felt that on top of learning a lot, my money was going to a great cause.After a quick lunch at the dock, we boarded a giant boat that has an observation deck on top, benches around the sides and an indoor area with a grill, benches and tables. Bumpkin and I made a beeline for the bow, which as we all know is the ONLY place to be in a boat, and Jerry sat back on a bench, content to feel the sun on his face. Once boarding was complete, we slowly left the harbor, passing between old light houses and granite cliffs. The water was full of sailboats and other vessels, and off in the distance, you could see the sky line of Boston. The weather could not have been more perfect. Blue skies, cool breeze, warm sun.....in fact, one of the fishermen we saw come into the dock said that on a day like today, whether or not you caught anything was irrelevant. It was just a joy to be on the water.We picked up speed as we dodged the maze of lobster traps that float everywhere, and soon we were headed out to open sea. We had traveled about eighteen miles when we saw our first whale. Off in the distance, seemingly out of nowhere, a huge spout of water shot up into the air. We tooled over for a closer look and got a wonderful view of the whale as it surfaced several times, and then dove deeply. That was just the first of many humpback, fin, and minky whales that we saw! We would follow one or two at a time, and then move on to find another one. Can you see how incredble it is to look out over the water and to see a whale almost as big as your boat come floating up to the surface?! It really is amazing!As if the whales were not treat enough, at one point in the trip, we came upon a group of 250-300 dolphins! They surounded our boat and spent the next twenty minutes playing with us. From our seat on the bow, Bumpkin and I could lean out over the water and watch them race with us just under the surface. There were quite a few moms and their babies and watching them jump and dive in exact unison was just about the neatest thing I have ever seen! At one point, a litle girl behind me exclaimed loudly, "This is SO much better than Sea World!". We all laughed knowing that she was absolutely right!As we were getting ready to leave, we had a final visit from a humpback whale named Wizard. She came right up next to the boat and lazily floated up and down in the water, blowing out a great spray of water each time she surfaced. When she finally dove deeply, she raised her tail out of the water, as if waving goodbye. Think Mountain Dew commercial.... :)It was a great end to the day!With our skin sticky from the salt spray and our hair tangled from the wind, we headed back in to shore, and soon, the three of us were driving towards Boston. We have to put Jerry on a plane tomorrow, and then Bumpkin and I are going to go to Great Barrington, Mass. (remember where we went to Arlo Guthries church?). From there, we will hike North. We will be picking up mail again in Dalton, Mass. for those of you that have asked me about my next mail drop. Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com------------------------------Sent from my PocketMail MobileE-Mail Handheld (www.pocketmail.com)