Last Friday, Anne and I and 15 assorted homeschoolers joined a
boatload of other tourists to go whale-watching on the Sea Wolf II
out of Monterey Bay for a three-hour tour, (a three-hour tour.)
Last Friday, Anne and I and 15 assorted homeschoolers joined a boatload of other tourists to go whale-watching on the Sea Wolf II out of Monterey Bay for a three-hour tour, (a three-hour tour.)
As the Sea Wolf II chugged sedately out of the harbor, our naturalist, over the PA system, told us about the differences between sea lions, which have visible ears, bark noisily, and were thickly clustered on the breakwater, and harbor seals, which have not, do not, and were not.
All the passengers zipped up their jackets and pulled on their hats and gloves. The sea was calm, with only a slight swell. The boat picked up speed as we neared the one-mile buoy. Our kids clung stubbornly to the bow rail; less hardy sailors took refuge in the cabin.
The naturalist told us what to look for: a spout, a plume of exhalation. Grey whales typically swim under the surface, but rise to breathe every five minutes or so. As one surfaces, it exhales through the blowhole on top of its head. The warm moist air of the exhalation condenses in the chillier air above the ocean.
“Thar she blows!” the naturalist sang out, cheerfully and traditionally.
“Eleven o‚clock!”
Sure enough, just off the port bow was a rapidly dissipating puff of condensate. The Sea Wolf altered course to parallel our whale. Five minutes later, “There!” shouted some passengers, pointing.
“There he is,” confirmed the naturalist. “Two o’clock.” There was a general rush for the starboard side and we watched as a dark grey ridge of whale back broke the surface. Binoculars bore, cameras clicked.
We kept alongside the whale for another three spouts at five-minute intervals, then headed west. I was a little sad to leave our whale behind. I thought it quite wonderful to actually see a whale while whale-watching. There are no guarantees.
So we headed south and west, and suddenly the passengers in the starboard bow cried aloud. Spouts! Several spouts! Repeated spouts! A pod of whales at two o’clock!
The Sea Wolf came up and attempted to parallel the course of the by now invisible whales. Minutes went by … three minutes … four …
“Thar they blow!” I began counting spouts. Twenty-one spouts … 33 … 42 spouts! I wondered if 42 spouts indicated 42 whales, or if a whale would breathe more than once at the surface, and show a plume for each breath.
Sometimes a whale’s back would break surface briefly, or two whales, or three. Other times a whale’s back would stay surfaced for quite a long time, rippling along. We stared in fascination; the effect was like watching the top of a tank-tread running backward, as the creature below moved forward. It went on and on … Those creatures were immense.
Then one pair of flukes rose, and another, and another; the pod was diving. “I counted 10 pairs of flukes,” the naturalist announced. She sounded as stunned as I felt. We waited. They surfaced and spouted and kept pace with us, then dived again. We waited, and watched them surface and spout again. The pod stayed together, which pleased our naturalist. She explained that if whales feel threatened, they will split up and go different directions.
At last, our three-hour tour ended and we turned back to shore. I repeated to myself: “So is this great and wide sea, full of things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest thine hand; they are filled with good.”
And as we sailed back, blunt-faced Risso’s dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins in great numbers leapt joyously around us.
January is the peak season for the annual migration of grey whales to their calving grounds in Baja. For the best chance of seeing them, go soon (and take Dramamine. The ocean is not always calm.) Four different companies operate boats from Wharf 1 in Monterey. Later in the year, you can log on to www.gowhales.com for news on blue and humpback whale migrations.
