IN AWE OF RIGHT WHALES: CLF's Adilson Gonzalez Morales shares his first sighting of a rare North Atlantic right whale--and how we can help make sure it's not his last.

• Date: 22 June 2021

GROWING UP IN THE ARID DESERT OF SOUTHWEST MEXICO, I DREAMED OF SEEING THE OCEAN. Yet I never thought that one day, I would sail the Atlantic and encounter one of the rarest whales on the planet--the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

For months, I had been reading about right whales and the lethal threats that they have faced for generations. I had grown increasingly passionate about the urgent need to save them, but, with fewer than 370 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet, seeing one in person seemed like a pipe dream. When a spot opened up on an expedition to Cape Cod Bay with scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the New England Aquarium, I jumped at the chance to tag along.

We set sail just after sunrise on a chilly April morning and soon received word of a mom and calf north of Provincetown. As we approached the area, we spotted the...