Rowdy and I went whale watching to celebrate our 14th anniversary!
These two are fin whales, the second largest animal ever to exist, in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. (About an hour by boat from Gloucester, MA.)
Addendum (after some time on the delightful Wikipedia page on "Largest And Heaviest Animals"):
The claim of "second largest ever" is disputable but fin whales are definitely one of the biggest of all time. They are not as heavy as some right whales, but they're longer. They're not as long as the longest sauropods, but they're heavier. I guess they're the second largest length x weight product animal?
(Except for some of those mostly-hypothetical giant sauropods that are really just a chip of a vertebra and a lot of math. Or that one that's a drawing of a chip of a vertebra and a lot of math.)
