Knowledge 知識 : Whale Watching 鯨魚觀賞

My whale watching (and motion sickness) experience:

I recently had the opportunity to go on a whale watch out of the New England aquarium. For those contemplating going on a whale watch, here's what I've learned:

The biggest issue to be aware of on a whale watch is motion sickness. The extent to which motion sickness becomes a problem varies a lot on the particular conditions when you go. For instance, the day I went, a sign at the dock listed the conditions as being 2 to 3 feet waves. On the way out to see the whales, the waves did get to be around that high. A decent number of people were throwing up (the boat provides ample bags and trash cans), and a good number more were looking ill and trying to sleep. However, on the way back, the water was completely calm and motion sickness wasn't an issue. It can vary a lot.

I took two pills of Dramamine - this is the kind that is less drowsy - and I ended up feeling fine, other than a small headache from taking pictures while the boat was rocking. Even though the medicine is a less drowsy formula, I started feeling tired about 4 hours after taking it. Speaking of which, it's important to take the medicine an hour before going on the boat, or it won't be as effective.

Also, staying on the outside of the boat really helps. The combination of the fresh air and looking outside at the horizon made me feel a lot better than trying to cope in the cabin.

As far as the actual whale watching, while it was a lot of fun, and we got to see quite a few whales, or at least the same whales multiple times, (the aquarium guarantees a whale sighting, or you get to go on another trip for free), I was hoping to see the whales a little closer than we did, and I really was hoping to see a whale breach, but it was not to be. Given that, I'm not exactly sure if I'd go again, or if I would go if the company I'm working for wasn't footing the bill.

Interestingly enough, the Wikipedia entry on whale breaching has a picture of a humpback whale jumping out of the water in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the same area I was in for the whale watch. It would have been pretty cool to see this.

whale body whale tail
This is about what you see from the boat.

boat tail boats
All the whale watching tour boats head to the same location where the whales like to hang out. It's coordinated to the point where our boat headed over to check out some whales a different boat had seen, and they came to see the whales we had been watching.

For more (full-sized as well) pictures, see my photo gallery.