Reflection: A Humpback Whale

Seeing a humpback whale rising, well it is more like rocketing, up and out of the sea creates a spectacular moment that instantly stirs the soul to remind us of things that are so deep they can hardly be expressed in words. Maybe it is just, pre-verbal. And no matter how 'civilized' we are or become, we always have that sense, deep in our core, of what it is to be wild, truly ourselves and free. 

Yesterday, we met Reflection and her calf. And today, I find myself still in those moments, turning them round and round in my mind, like a beautifully faceted crystal.

To the left is a picture of Reflection, a humpback whale, first sighted in 1995 and named for the pattern on her tail flukes with one side, pretty much, reflecting the other... but yesterday, I could see how a name can sometimes foretell the future.  

It was a relatively quiet morning out on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, at least it started out that way.

We saw whales, of course, but all was quiet on the Stellwagen front with humpbacks diving deep for food, pretty much, in singular fashion (as they often do since unlike the toothed the baleen whales are moslty solitary except for the moms and their calves), some great views of three passing finback whales (nice and close to our boat) and a couple of sleek minke whales slipping through the water...

Then we spotted a small group, consisting of four or five adults and one calf out there. flipper flapping and giving us a lot of great tail shots. So we stopped and slid quietly up to them to observe for a while. 

We were able to identify Iris but the others eluded us even though, later, photographs revealed some of their identities: Iris, Entropy and Reflection. Little did we know, at the time, Reflection would appear again... but, of course, that is what a reflection does, doesn't it?

Not only did Reflection appear again but she showed herself as the mom of the calf (this is, apparently, her second calf since the year 2000! Her first was Buzzard who has also appeared in Stellwagen Bank this year). And so we came full circle from the beginning to the end of our trip. But what an ending. And how sweet it was watching Reflection's calf reflecting her/his Mama.

The pictures below say it all:

Come join the family! 

Click HERE to read more about the whales and a way to see them.