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They had a tractor to pull the boat in so we could get on it to visit the whales. The right whales are very curious and they like to come right up to the boat and “play” with you, because of this we heard to get in a large boat, and not a small zodiac, as the whales like to flip them over to play with you!
Right whales are three species of large baleen whales of the genus Eubalaena. The most distinguishing feature of a right whale is the rough patches of skin on its head which appear white due to parasitism by whale lice. Right whales can grow up to more than 18 m (59 ft) long with the maximum record of 19.8 m (65 ft) weigh up to 100 short tons (91 t; 89 long tons), significantly larger than other coastal species such as humpbacks, grays, or bryde's, but smaller than blues.
Right whales were a preferred target for whalers because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendencies to stay close to the coast, and their high blubber content (which makes them float when they are killed, and which produced high yields of whale oil).
A popular explanation for the name "right whales" is that they were the "right" ones to hunt,[14] as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore. They are quite docile, and do not tend to shy away from approaching boats. As such, they were hunted nearly to extinction during the active years of the whaling industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_whale
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