OMG!!!!!! Guess who my dive buddy was for 2 dives today?

[large_diver]

John,

Was that a whale shark or a basking shark?

-Chris

 

[MSilvia]

Thats a fantastic experience! I'm glad you were so lucky to meet her.
I had an interesting encounter last summer. I was anchored in Boston Harbor area and a whale shark approached my boat and circled the area around the boat for about an hour.
A whale shark has baleen, not teeth. It was VERY big, probably 20 feet or more long and whould come within a foot or 2 of the boat when it passed by.
At the time I wasn't a certified diver, and I'm not sure if I would have jumped in the water to swim with him if I had been either....what would you do? :11:
John C.

If I saw a whale shark in these waters, I wouldn't be able to get my gear on fast enough! Are you sure it wasn't a basking shark though? They're also quite large, and are filter feeders, but they're a lot more common around here than whale sharks.

 

[quimby]

Was that a whale shark or a basking shark

Many years ago I had closed my shop and my wife, a friend and myself took my boat out to the eastern edge of the Mud Hole off of NJ seaching for a wreck. Glass flat and the stream had wandered in and gorgeous blue and clear. Steaming along seaching I swear to this day a whale shark surfaced alongside us and just eyeballed the boat and began to slowly turn away.
Basically no one else saw my friend as one was sleeping and another in the head, but most evidence points towards, as was said to basking shark not whale shark. Color and shape (ridges on the sides) both lean me to my first conclusion but undocumented its dam hard to take to the bank


Well theirs more to it, I had actually shouted to the wife who was reclined on a storage box on the flybridge, as I pulled off my shirt and did a dive from the bridge to near my slow moving friend. It wasnt hard to touch him and I boosted a short ride on him and when I let go he spun around and again eye balled me and gave me another short ride (felt like Gregory Peck with his white whale) and left for parts unknown.
I now looked for my boat and could just see this toy sized boat on the horizon. After a initial outburst I realized my wife was probably sound asleep and I had a bad bearing in my I'm stupid which made below uncomfortable, my friend couldnt hear me on a bet.
Considering late afternoon I now considered swimming west my best bet not to shore but the bunker boats would be out to the deerstand area by sunup and could probably get someones attention there. But to my pleasant suprise the boat was now coming back towards me and in a few minutes saw me and once again got safe and dry. Now explaining this to them was a little awkward but about a year later I saw a large turtle and did the same thing only this time I killed the engine and then went over with people watching. Much less trauma that way...

 

[MSilvia]

Ahh... the old "one that got away."

Well, there's no rule that says it couldn't have been, and I've seen less likely things in the sea.

 

[jchaplain]

John,

Was that a whale shark or a basking shark?

-Chris

It was probably a Basking Shark...I thought they were the same thing because I could see it had baleen.
I'm not sure I would be brave enough to jump in because I would be afraid a hard sudden move from one could snap your back, but maybe I'm just a little chicken poop.
With a whale I would have more faith that they are intelligent animals and might be careful not to harm you.
Sure hope I see a Beluga whale some day in the wild! :bang:
John C.

 

[archman]

A whale shark has baleen, not teeth.

The teeth are very small. REALLY SMALL. Here's a cute little link describing how they feed.http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/sharks/species/Whaleshark.shtml

Only cetaceans (rorqual types) possess baleen. Other critters have features that might strain plankton, but they're makeup is different.

Oh yeah, and if the canary (beluga) only had grey on the dorsum, it may have been a diatom scum. Frequently the tops of marine mammals accumulate thin coatings of algae biofilm that may discolor the animal's surface. Yellow-colored canaries are common in the Arctic during the summer, for example.

 

[MASS-Diver]

I'm pretty sure whale sharks can be seen around here (rarely), I thought Fred Colhoun's (sp?) charter boat out of Glouster had a "famous" whale shark sighting a few years ago.


The only cool thing I've seen has been some HUGE ocean sunfish on the surface.

 

[quimby]

I'm not sure I would be brave enough to jump in because I would be afraid a hard sudden move from one could snap your back, but maybe I'm just a little chicken poop.

I dont think so, I had one great advantage...I was 21 and hadnot lost the indestructable, teenage knowitall yet. I see in everyday with my two.

The only cool thing I've seen has been some HUGE ocean sunfish on the surface.

Still a sight worth enjoying. And the best pictures of all are in the minds eye and trying to explain it to someone or listening to someone whose seen something like that is what one of the most enjoyable parts of life

 

[decapoddiver]

I will be sending them some pic's tomorrow. Sounds like I met a healthy, normal beluga who happened to stray South. The person I spoke said that a beluga was seen in Gloucester a couple of years ago so I guess it's not rare, just uncommon

 

[archman]

Heck if you have KILLER WHALES in the GULF OF MEXICO, you can certainly have the odd white whale popping into New England waters.

http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_2589622,00.html