Every now and then, we experience a day that defies belief and (more importantly here) defies description. Some claim the “Holy Grail of Whale Watching” to be a breaching whale. However, there is one other thing a whale can do that will send your heart thumping into overdrive, and that is when a whale simply comes to say, “Hello.” Yes, today’s morning trip started simple enough: an occasional humpback here and there; classic fluke shots for all. On our third stop, however, a young calf could not resist its own curiosity and chose to forego the company of his (or her) mother to come say hello to some screaming monkeys. Scream we did, as the “little” tyke practically scratched against the boat several times, routinely surfacing within arm’s reach of the boat for some indescribable length of time. This went on, over and over again, until we had to grit our teeth and abandon the magnificent creature; a second trip could hardly be kept waiting. Just when we thought the afternoon trip would pale in comparison, we were granted a large group of 6 humpbacks, surface lunge feeding repeatedly, interspersed with the occasional breach. “I’ve never seen such good looks at lunging,” said Captain Danny by the end of the trip. With nearly 25 years on the bay, that is certainly saying something. Need I say more? Blue skies, warm air, and calm winds more than made up for a moderate amount of chop. Even the seasick passengers agreed, “That was incredible.”–
-Naturalist Isaiah
