A North Atlantic right whale tagged off New Smyrna Beach took just 11 days to migrate nearly 800 miles to the waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in January.After spending a week near the Outer Banks, she swam northward again, arriving off the Long Island coast eight days later.The 1,200 mile trip was likely a routine journey for the whale. Several dozen of the endangered animals travel between New England and Florida each winter.But the transmitter that beamed a signal allowing her migration to be tracked was anything but ordinary.The pings from her transmitter were big cause for excitement among scientists who have searched for years for a safe and successful method for tagging and tracking right whales. The journey of the whale dubbed S078 marked a huge leap forward in that effort.
