Friday, April 3, 2009

Salt Cay's Humpback Whale Playground

The humpback whales are heading North - out of the Turks & Caicos Islands and back to their northern homes (off the coast of Maine, Massachusetts, etc.) It has been a wonderful whale watching season (mid-December until sometime this month) this year and I will look forward to their return next December.
It's hard to know when they will show up but be assured that they are here in the months January and February. It was a bit cold this year and I'm wondering if that's why we didn't see as many sightings as usual during those months...

This year we saw them playing off the shores of Salt Cay throughout the month of March. So great! Perhaps the best times are when they hang out right off the Wall (about 150-200 yards from our house). Watching the whales play with each other - slapping the water with their flippers and tail, throwing their bodies out of the water as they breach, and calling to each other in their eerie beautiful voices - are some of the best memories we keep with us every year as they leave their "playground" off the shores of Salt Cay.

(Pictures by Donna Shope - thanks Donna)

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