We were in Puerto Piramides, a little village on the Peninsula Valdes in Patagonia. We went there to see Southern Right whales. They are called Right whales because they were the right type of whales to hunt. They have oil in them and float after they are killed. The whales come to the Golfo Nuevo to have babies and mate.
To see the whales, we had to ride on a boat. We wore orange life vests. Mine hurt my neck. There were 16 other people on the boat. It was sunny and the water was calm. We traveled 15 minutes until the captain spotted two mom whales with their babies. We saw 17 more whales, as well as penguins and dolphins.
The whales live to be up to 100 years old. They are 40-60 feet long and average 54 tons. They eat krill, filtering it out of the water with their baleen. Every three years, the whales have one baby.
We saw the whales stick their tales up in the air. Some came up under the boat and bumped us. They had barnacles and weeds stuck to their skin. One time, a whale sprayed me out of his spout. It smelled like snot.
When we were about to leave, a whale jumped out of the water completely and made a huge splash. We had a fun day.
The boat is trailered into the water.
For a three-hour cruise....
Right whale with callosities and other growths.
What a fluke!
One of many, many tail shots
1 comment:
" I never heard of a right whale.Is it nickname ? " That from Zach <..>
Brother !! he needs to look it up and will reply when he finds the info.
Good report Katarina. We loved the pictures.
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