Largest creature on Earth seen off MA for first time in 20 years. Experts ‘shed tears’

Gasps erupted from the port side of the boat. The people on board watched the colossal creature weave the ocean surface, only yards away. Believed to be the first time in over 20 years, a blue whale was spotted in Massachusetts waters.

In a video of Cape Ann Whale Watch’s July 8 encounter, an enormous blue whale drifts by the boat, the air above the giant disrupted by massive puffs of vapor as it exhales.

The whale watchers with CAWW had hoped to see a few dolphins and maybe a humpback that day, but this was a whole other ballgame. Staff said the sighting was a career-high.

“Our naturalist shed tears and could barely speak, interns too had tears and were in total awe,” CAWW said in a post recounting the incredible sighting.

Blue whales are the largest animals to roam the Earth – now, or ever in history. They dwarf even mammoths and all known species of dinosaur, according to BBC Earth. They can weigh more than 330,000 pounds and grow to 110 feet long, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, making them roughly the length of a 10-story building.

And this one was no exception.

“This whale was almost as long as our 115-foot boat!” the organization said.

Blue whales in the North Atlantic frequent deep ocean waters off the coast of Greenland, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation. A blue whale off the coast of Massachusetts is incredibly rare.

“This is my 21st season with CAWW and today’s 2 trips are right there in the top 3 if not THE top one! Today I got my first ever look at a blue whale!!” the author of the post said.

This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Largest creature on Earth seen off MA for first time in 20 years. Experts ‘shed tears’."