- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Messages
- 5,173
- Location (City and/or State)
- South of Southern California, but not Mexico
My wife and I went on another whale watching cruise yesterday. We also went in March and saw many Gray whales, single males, mom's with babies, and whole pods of 6 to 8 animals. Big excitement, even for the boat captain, to see so many on any one cruise.
We went again about a month ago, and so hundreds of common dolphins, huge groups of 40 to 50, racing along side the boat as a break from hunting the fish in massive schools, also visible from the ship. Here the most fun was seeing the babies race with their mom's in the ship's wake. They project so much thrill that everyone on the ship seems to find themselves surrounded by some un-certain overwhelming happiness. That trip we did not see any whales at all, in the sense of the big guys.
Yesterday we went out again. WOW, they are huge, we saw 2 Fin whales and maybe 6-8 Blues. After the Grays the Fins looked big, as they cruise along just below the surface catching quick breaths. The have big dorsal fins, and look black in the water. One even gave us a good fluke view just as it dove.
Those blues though, you can see them several feet below the surface. Something about their skin reflects sun light back up, out of the water, so it looks light a blue light is running through the water. It's like a blue whale size halo of light in the water as they skim just below the surface, you can see it at three or four times the distance from the ship as you would for the Fin or Grays.
The spout when it wafts over you is not a desirable smell, but most make rainbows, so it's not so bad. They seem to not mind the ships at all, even with how regular the encounters are. Some appear to want to see the people as much as the people want to see them. A good exchange of curiosity.
One let lose with a mighty crap of krill waste. A neon red accumulation of excess pigment from that diet. Seagulls wasted no time letting it get away, and flocked to this 'snack'.
Whale watching sounds sorta mundane, like do you really see them? Well, yes you do, and it's incredible, give it a try when you can.
This is what might be considered the fall color of San Diego, mighty blue halos of whale swimming in the ocean.
Will
We went again about a month ago, and so hundreds of common dolphins, huge groups of 40 to 50, racing along side the boat as a break from hunting the fish in massive schools, also visible from the ship. Here the most fun was seeing the babies race with their mom's in the ship's wake. They project so much thrill that everyone on the ship seems to find themselves surrounded by some un-certain overwhelming happiness. That trip we did not see any whales at all, in the sense of the big guys.
Yesterday we went out again. WOW, they are huge, we saw 2 Fin whales and maybe 6-8 Blues. After the Grays the Fins looked big, as they cruise along just below the surface catching quick breaths. The have big dorsal fins, and look black in the water. One even gave us a good fluke view just as it dove.
Those blues though, you can see them several feet below the surface. Something about their skin reflects sun light back up, out of the water, so it looks light a blue light is running through the water. It's like a blue whale size halo of light in the water as they skim just below the surface, you can see it at three or four times the distance from the ship as you would for the Fin or Grays.
The spout when it wafts over you is not a desirable smell, but most make rainbows, so it's not so bad. They seem to not mind the ships at all, even with how regular the encounters are. Some appear to want to see the people as much as the people want to see them. A good exchange of curiosity.
One let lose with a mighty crap of krill waste. A neon red accumulation of excess pigment from that diet. Seagulls wasted no time letting it get away, and flocked to this 'snack'.
Whale watching sounds sorta mundane, like do you really see them? Well, yes you do, and it's incredible, give it a try when you can.
This is what might be considered the fall color of San Diego, mighty blue halos of whale swimming in the ocean.
Will
