You must hear about the shocking sighting of a gray whale. But first, the reason why it is is so fitting right now. The reason is because it is nearly time for Puerto Peñasco to say “adios” again. The whales migrated to the warmer waters of the Sea of Cortez around the start of the new year. Now they are nearly ready to leave.
Clock ticking on Rocky Point Whale Watching
Heads up. The clock is ticking if you want to experience whale watching off the shores of Rocky Point Mexico. By mid-March, the whales make their way back north. Their exit plan retraces their journey through the Gulf of California into the Pacific Ocean. And every year when nature calls, most of us around Rocky Point don’t want these massive mammals to go.
So,here is the bottom line. If you still want to go whale watching, you may have until this weekend to get on a boat in Puerto Peñasco. However, you may have next week, too. As the classic Check Berry song goes, “You Never Can Tell.” Here’ s why.
There is no official end of the Puerto Peñasco whale watching season because the visitors have no check out process like Sonoran Sun condo rentals.
Gray Whale Spotted in Atlantic Makes Waves
Back to the gray whale. They have been spotted in the Sea of Cortez and are commonly found in the Pacific Ocean. However, the Atlantic Ocean is a completely different story. No one was more surprised to see a gray whale last week than the New England Aquarium experts who spotted it.
A team was conducting an aerial survey they expected to be routine. It was until they were flying over the ocean about 30 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
The sighting of a gray whale in these waters defied their keen eyes and boggled their specially trained brains. Why was it such a shocking discovery? Well, simply because gray whales have been considered extinct in the Atlantic Ocean for about 200 years.
They grow to as much as 90,000 pounds. This makes gray whales hard to miss by anyone in their vicinity. Meanwhile, in this case, the experts were able to easily distinguish beyond simply the size. They recognized traits such as the gray and white skin, a dorsal hump but no dorsal fin, and more. So, to destroy any doubts and disbelief, the New England Aquarium team followed the whale for about 45 minutes. They watched it dive and resurface while feeding.
A Wow for Whale Experts
Orla O’Brien is a research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center at the New England Aquarium. She said, “I didn’t want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy.” Colleague Kate Laemmle added, “We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was. My brain was trying to process what I was seeing.”
Overall, this was the 5th sighting of a gray whale in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the past 15 years. The one observed off Massachusetts is believed to be the same one seen off the Florida coast last year.
The credit or the blame for gray whales in these waters is climate change. Scientists believe it is a sign that nature is already trying to find ways to respond and adapt.
