Humpback Whale Migration to Samana Bay

Drove down to Samana with a friend to see the fascinating humpback whale, which has been coming to the Dominican Republic every winter for centuries to mate, give birth, and nurse newborn calves. They say that 1500 or more whales visit Samana Bay for varying lengths of time, with up to 300 present during mid-February, and therefore the World Wildlife fund considers it one of the best places to watch whales. We signed up for a tour with Kim Beddall (founder of whale watching in the bay, and has been doing tours since 1984-85) on the Victoria II, and caught some great views of several different whales; particularly one active male which we spent most of our time observing. I didn't snap any photos, because they spout, then either flipper, breach, tail lob, spyhop or dive, then dissappear before ever getting a great photo opp and absorbing the action for oneself. I chose to take in every single morsel of action, rather than continue to desperately try to get a photo (although it would have been more exciting for my blog readers to see! Please know that I actually did try a couple of times, but then decided it was not happening). Great photos can be viewed however at the links listed below - they are much better than I could have done! I was both amazed and moved by the beauty of these enourmous creatures in their natural setting. Did you know that the migration of the humpback whale is one of the longest of any mammal, and consists of feeding off the coast of New England, Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland, then heading south to the Dominican for the winter? This is approximately 3,000 miles that these creatures swim one way! They don't eat for five or six months while they are in the West Indies, and therefore lose up to 1/5 of their body weight. If you'd like to learn more about these amazing sea creatures, feel free to jump onto the following websites: http://www.samana.org.do/whales.htm, http://whale.wheelock.edu/Welcome.html, www.howstuffworks.com/whale, and http://csiwhalesalive.org/csigallery01.html