On November 29, 2015, a rare North Atlantic right whale visited Bass Rocks, along the coast of Gloucester, MA. It spent about an hour and a half swimming very close to the shore, spy-hopping, rolling in the waves, and generally appearing to enjoy itself.
North Atlantic right whales are extremely rare and are critically endangered, with approximately 400 animals remaining. The New England Aquarium catalogs all known whales and sightings at http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/, and in an email said:
“The folks at the Aquarium concur that this is a young whale. They believe it might be one of the calves that was born in the winter of 2014, so about 2 years old. Hopefully they’ll be able to confirm that once they get all available images/footage. If that’s the case, then that makes this an even more valuable sighting. Survival rate for calves and juveniles during the first couple of years is somewhat low, so when we can confirm that a calf has survived we all get pretty psyched. ”
You can read more about North Atlantic right whales here:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/north-atlantic-right-whale.html
Good Morning Gloucester 
Amazing
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Thanks!
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That was so cool! Thanks for sharing!
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That was so wonderful – such an awesome site and relaxing to watch that youngster enjoying the day – thank you so much.
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We are so-o-o-o lucky that you live here, Marty! Your ability to get to the action makes shots like this possible.
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Cool footage. I’m assuming this is around noon? He swam down the lineup at Good Harbor around 10:45.
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This footage was from 10:00a to about 10:45a. The whale swam around Sherman’s Point, but I had to bring my drone in to change the batter. Once I was ready to take off again, we couldn’t see it. I went to Sherman’s Point, but still couldn’t see it, even though it was apparently swimming with all of the surfers!
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well done…very cool
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Thank you
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Beautiful capture Marty, thank you for posting.
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???Isn’t that terribly close to land ??? Is the whale ill…I thought they traveled together . Thanks for sharing !1 LOVE the area !
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According to NOAA and the NE Aquarium, this is normal behavior for a juvenile right whale, except that it is rare for it to visit Cape Ann like this.
And it didn’t appear to be sick or in distress in any way.
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Awesome……thank you!
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i actually saw this whale or another whale off Cape Hedge Beach two weeks ago.
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Fantastic, thanks for sharing. Makes me wish I still lived in my hometown!
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Great news – thank you so much for sharing!
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Beautiful footage. Thanks for sharing!
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amazing how close to shore it is. amazing footage. wonder how big it measures?
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thanks ..great job !
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Simply perfect.
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Beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
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You’ve caught a wonderful video which is beautiful and I’m glad you’ve shared it !
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I have been travelling to cape ann a couple of times a year for almost 25 years to whale watch, and have yet to see a right whale. thank you for sharing this special moment! Ironically, I stayed just up the road from Bass Rocks at Blue Shutters and went past this spot every day!
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thank you for this 🙂 inspiring to watch first thing in the morning !
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Fabulous footage! Thanks so much.
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