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Whale And Dolphin Watching
There are over 80 species of cetaceans, a word derived from the Latin "cetus," which literally means "large sea creature." The cetaceans include whales, dolphins and porpoises of all shapes and sizes. After nearly 200 years of slaughtering whales for their fat and flesh, a 1986 moratorium on whaling in most parts of the world has allowed many of the near-extinct whale populations -- like the blue whale -- to return. Some nations like Japan, Norway, Russia, Iceland and select islands still allow hunting but impose quotas. Today, whale and dolphin watching is bringing more awareness and appreciation for these docile creatures. In this article, you will learn about some of the whale types you might encounter on your next whale watching excursion.
The humpback whale is one of the most common creatures spotted when whale watching. There are about 30,000 to 40,000 humpbacks in the wild today, which makes up about 30 to 35% of the overall population. In the summer, they frequent New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Iceland, California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Antarctica. In the winter, they migrate to warmer climes like the Dominican Republic's Samana Province, France's Bay of Biscay, Hawaii, Mexico's Puerto Vallarta, Australia and New Zealand, Cape Town, Costa Rica and the Tongan Islands. Humpback whales are especially exciting to see during their breeding season, when up to forty males may gather to court one female with tail-lobbing, breaching several feet in the air, tail-slapping, spy-hopping, peduncle throwing and charging.
On your next whale and dolphin watching trip, you may also encounter gray whales. These great migrators have been known to travel up to 12,430 miles in their pods from Alaska in the summer to Mexico in the winter. Most gray whale watching enterprises are stationed between Monterey and San Diego, as they migrate down to Baja, California to breed and give birth. Grays used to be the most intimidating whales to hunt because these "devil fish" seemed unafraid to charge humans when they felt threatened. Grays were removed from the endangered species list in 1994 and now number around 26,000.
Killer whales are great for whale and dolphin watching because they typically live in large pods of up to 50 mammals. The best locations for watching killers are the coastal waters of British Columbia and the state of Washington. These whales hunt in packs to capture seals, minkes and Antarctic cod. In some cases, even grays, blue and sperm whales, as well as bottle-nosed dolphins, penguins, deer and moose have been hunted by the killers. Iceland, Northern Norway and Alaska are other popular places to spot the black and white cetaceans. As the stars of Sea World, killers are beloved for their above-water antics, including acrobatic leaps, breaching, tail-slapping and spy-hopping (holding their heads above water to look around).
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Flying with Iceland Air - Take-off and Landing - Christmas 2010
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