In the Gulf of Maine, the ocean is opaque with life... phytoplankton and zoo plankton exist in such quantity that you can rarely see more than 50 or 60 feet underwater.
It was a flat calm day and so we could see much more of Fissure than if it were choppy... a perfect day for such an encounter.
He lay parallel to us for a bit (perhaps scoping us out with one eye), then slowly turned to face us. We were amazed to see him move such a huge body with just gentle gesture of tail and flipper! And being a younster, he was a mere 35-40 feet long, when full grown he would be 50+ feet!
He lay there, white 15' flippers spread like wings, balancing and keeping himself in place. In this picture his blow hole is slightly open as he takes a occasional breath. Baleen whales have two blow holes, while toothed whales (dolphins and orca) have just one.
We just looked at each other in silence for several minutes.
