I was out diving in Rockport on Saturday at Old Garden Beach. My dive buddy and I were swimming along in about 45 feet of water. I, as usual, had my head practically in the rocks looking for neat things. All of a sudden, my dive buddy hits me on the shoulder and points slightly up and ahead of us. I look up and almost lost it. Within feet of us slightly above was a huge whale swimming past us. The head had already passed us, and we got a good look at its side flipper. It was bumpy and notched and itself larger than my dive buddy. Visibility was about 15 feet, and we couldn't see the head anymore, but still couldn't see the tail. It felt like a locomotive that wouldn't end passing us. Finally, with the head out of sight, the tail comes into view. If my dive buddy hadn't of hit me, I would have bumped my head on the whale in another kick cycle.
We estimated it was about 30 feet long. We described it to the local dive store, and they guessed it was a humpback. The pictures we looked at match pretty well. Also, humpbacks are known to be in that area, although I can't believe they would be that close to shore and that shallow.
I constantly get asked why I would dive in the cold waters of New England and what we could possibly see. I give the usual response of all of the interesting creatures and plant life. I think I have a better response now.