A Whale of a Tale: Day 2 Part I

Day Two:  6/18/2012 Monday

I woke-up at 5:30am and went to the bridge (where the Captain controls the ship) in the hopes of seeing some whales.  Not much was happening so I took a quick shower and went back up.  Soon, one of the naturalists (Brent from New Zealand) sited some “blows” in the distance at the 1:00 position.  Over time, more blows belonging to fin whales were sited.  Once I saw a blow in my binoculars, I kept focusing at that location to see the back and fin of the whale.  

After one of the blows, a huge section of back showed and, eventually, a large fluke.  It was miles off, but it was huge and I cheered like a kid!  It was none other than the blue whale, the largest mammal in the world!  Over the next hour, the blue whale showed itself again and again and we the Captain did his best to keep us aimed in the right direction.  When the "blue" was just over the bow of the ship (I had left the enclosed bridge to get on the bow to witness this amazing event), I could hear it, a massive exhalation of breath that gave me goosebumps.  What an adrenaline rush of a morning!  I have met my goal.  I not only saw a whale in the wild, I saw a blue whale, the largest whale on the planet!  Can it get any better than this?

I hope you don't get seasick when you watch my video clip of the blue whale when it came near the ship.  I didn't have a tripod, it is hard to see the LCD screen and the ship is MOVING.  : )