Whale watching

On June 10, we sailed out on the Cape Ann Whale Watch (on the Hurricane II) to Stellwagen Bank to do some whale watching. We had originally scheduled to go on the 8th but the trip was cancelled for the 8th and 9th due to bad weather. I'm glad it was. It was an incredible day on the ocean, with the crew spotting over 40 humpback whales, a fin whale, a minke whale and a sunfish! Unfortunately, I am prone to seasickness, which hit me 3 times while on this trip, but I was still able to get some pictures of this great trip. I also signed up to get a link for some taken by the naturalist who gave us all the info on the whales via loudspeaker.  

Here is my video:

Here are the pictures I uploaded from the link by the naturalist 

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Looks like its smiling.

Bottom of the mouth

The birds try to pick up fish out of its mouth

So many birds!

Look at the pool of water it holds.

Kick feeding. They slap the water to stun the fish.

Then they come up and swallow them.

Each has distinctive markings. Often the

tails will help identify the whales.

A different whale

This one doesn't have "bites."

Ridges along the edge.

What they look like coming up 

Again, kick feeding.

And another whale.

Those birds don't give up.

Getting ready to kick.

The whales can't eat the birds. If one gets 

swallowed, the whale spits it back out. Their

throats are too small.

Another whale

Thar she blows!

And a final look at this magnificent creature. 

 

Texas

In 2012 we took a trip to the west coast and traveled through Texas for a few days. Unfortunately I didn't caption most of my photos but I'll try as best I can to remember what I can.

AUSTIN (The capital) 

University of Texas stadium 

View of downtown from the Capitol 

University of Texas (I think that's the infamous bell tower)

Another view of the stadium 

Congress Street bridge. A huge flock of bats live under here and fly out every night.

It's quite a sight to see 

George H.W Bush presidential library, College Station 

Museum of the Pacific War

(Fredericksburg, TX)

San Antonio

Riverwalk

The Alamo 

Riverwalk

Riverwalk

Mariachi band at Riverwalk 

Riverwalk 

LBJ Ranch 

(near Fredericksburg)

The family cemetery

Air Force One

Amphibious car 

It's a working ranch 

Texas is a very big state and these are just a few of the interesting sites. On this trip, we focused mostly on historical places. The most surprising was the Museum of the Pacific War, but my favorite was the LBJ ranch. The LBJ museum was not open the day we went by (in Austin).