Over the span of three centuries in times past, when the lookout perched atop a crow's nest on a whaling ship spied a whale surfacing and blowing air out of its blowhole, he would cry, "There she blows!" Upon hearing those words, whalers would grab their harpoons, lower their whaleboats, and set off on a frenzied hunt to capture a whale and harvest the spermoil, spermaceti, whale oil, whalebone, and, if they were extremely fortunate, that most precious of all whale by-products, ambergris.
Nantucket Sleighride
The center of whaling in the U.S. was the Massaschusetts island town of Nantucket, south of Cape Cod. When whalesmen harpooned a whale, the whale typically set off on a wild run for freedom, dragging the men and their boat behind it in an ordeal that came to be known among sailors as a "Nantucket Sleighride.” Some of those whales reportedly reached speeds of over 20 miles per hour—fast enough to waterski behind.
The words of Judy Collins' haunting song, "Farewell to Tarwathie" capture the lure of the whale:
Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale
Farewell to my comrades
For a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass
Who first won my heart
The cold coast of Greenland
My love will not chill
And the longer my absence
More loving she'll feel
Our ship is well rigged
And she's ready to sail
The crew they are anxious
To follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float
And the stormy winds blow
Where the land and the ocean
Is covered with snow
The cold coast of Greenland
Is barren and bare
No see time nor harvest
Is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly
In mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland
To sing to the whale
There is no habitation
For a man to live there
And the king of that country
Is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation
To tarry long there
With our ship under full
We will homeward repair
Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale
If you're planning to attend this October's HAFLA in Monterey and are interested in whale watching, fear not. Unlike the sailor in the song, you won't have to sail away to far off Greenland to spot your whale. Rather, you'll be departing from Monterey Bay Wharf aboard a comfortable, well-equipped whale-watching ship in search of the Humpback whales and other species transiting between northern U.S. waters and the warmer climes of Baja Mexico.
Monterey Bay Marina
Whale Surfacing in Waters off Monterey
Humpbacks off Monterey Bay
To further calm your nerves, be assured that you won't be going on a "Nantucket Sleighride" of any kind, either.
Your tour will be hosted by trained marine biologists/naturalists well prepared to describe the whales and answer your questions.
We expect a considerable demand for seats on the whale watching boat(s), and strongly advise interested parties to reserve their places early.
Moby Dick
And don't forget your cameras!
While it's extremely unlikely you'll encounter Captain Ahab's great white whale nemesis, Moby Dick, in the waters off Monterey, spotting humpback whales will be exciting enough, and far less dangerous.