Each year between mid January and mid March, the annual humpback whale migration proceeds along the shores of Turks & Caicos Islands.
One of the main attractions for whale watching in Middle Caicos is that the trademark reef surrounding most of the TCI archipelago is almost
absent near Conch Bar village, allowing the whales to pass close to shore.
On Saturday January 22nd, the first official sighting of the whales off the shore of Middle Caicos was noted. Mark Parrish, eco-guide from Big Blue Unlimited was hiking into the old Haulover Plantation ruins on the east end of the island in the morning where he spotted a hump back whale.
The humpback whale (Me-gap-tera nova-eang-liae) is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger ror-qual species, adults range in length from 1216 metres (3952 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000lb). The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the water.
