NATURALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



A Tale 



By Jason T alley 



it is now winter. The cold air blows in 

 from an open door, reminding you of the season. 



You sink into your favorite chair, 

 surrounded by the warmth of your home, and 

 curl up with a good magazine. But, your mind 

 wonders off to a warmer place. A place baked by 

 the sun in the dead of winter, where crystal blue 

 is not the color of ice hanging from the garage, 

 but of flowing waters repeatedly washing the 

 white sand of a pristine shoreline. 



This is the Caribbean in winter, where 

 throngs of tourists escape the cold conditions of 

 home. This is also the place where many whales 

 spend their winters looking for a mate or giving 

 birth. It is here that our tale starts. 



Swimming in the warm Caribbean water is 

 a humpback whale named "Salt" Salt is the 

 most photographed whale of all time — and at 

 this very moment she may be giving birth to her 

 ninth calf. 



Humpback calves come into this world tail 

 first, rolling like a barrel, and weighing 3,000 

 pounds. Salt is over 30, weighs over 30 tons, and 

 measures 47 feet long. She is also the star of a 

 whale exhibit at the North Carolina Aquarium at 

 Fort Fisher. 



Continued 



LEFT: Salt's often pictured tail, off The Great South 

 Channel near Cape Cod, summer 2002. 



COASTWATCH 



