Saturday, July 30, 2011

Whale Watch & final thoughts on this course


On Thursday July 28, 2011at 10:00 am I met my class at Marriot, Long Wharf and from there we left for our much awaited Whale Watch trip. As you all can see in the picture how excited everyone was. When we first boarded the cruise it was moving slow and quickly picked up speed which made me and 3 of my other classmates seasick. However, I was still enthusiastic about seeing whales, our tour guide kept us informed with whale facts that usually we will spot humpbacks these Northern hemisphere whales reach an average length of 50 feet, and weigh about 37 tons. Sadly, they're also among the most endangered. It is estimated only 8 percent of their original population remains.
We spotted also saw minke, fin back whales. Minke was smaller than the other 2 and resembled dolphins. The next one was Finback whale, at 45-70 feet long and weighing 40 tons, are second in size only to blue whales.According to our guide finbacks may live up to 100 years which was surprising. While white-sided whaled are only found in North Atlantic water just south of New England. We also spotted the Whales traveling in a pair that is most likely to be a mother and a calf, and most of these whales reproduce only once, which makes the possibility of this creature going extinct highly likely. The cruise was very crowded and I thought I would never be able to see a whale, but I made my way through the crowd and caught some really worth-watching "Whale Moves". In the end we also saw the Whale breaching which put an extra icing on the cake.

In the end I would like to wrap up the most hands-on class I have ever taken. I enjoyed everyday of the class. This is the whole new level of learning about Earth Science. I can tell my friends and family some fun facts that I never knew before. We explored the Islands, under the dock, Whale Watch, and even Quicny market. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who would want to take an for Earth Sciences class. Thanks to all the group and class fellows who made this class so interactive. Ofcourse without Prof. Berman this would not have been possible.

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