These are magnificent animals - huge! For perspective: a large Orca can weigh between 5 and 6 tons; a typical humpback can weight 35 to 45 tons! We have spent time on Maui and frequently saw humpbacks there in February and March. It is not typical to see a humpback here, but there are reported sightings every season - usually in the Pacific or just inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
This one seemed to be traveling alone, and feeding while moving north. The only other humpback I have seen in this area was in June, and it was on the other side of a group of Orcas; I couldn't get close enough for the guests to see it... OK, not a bad problem to have. ;-)
This was the highlight of the day... well, maybe the month. It will be hard to top the "greeting ceremony" of J,K, & L Pods coming together in a Super-Pod that we saw earlier this season, but this was a very special day. The weather was perfect, the water was fine (although the currents were ripping pretty good around the Cactus Islands), and plenty of other wildlife to see. There are some days when I can't imagine a better "fun summer job;" this day will go down near the top of that list.
Tomorrow is typically a day off for me. Not for the next few weeks. I will be swapping out my captain hat for a guide/naturalist hat (that's just a saying - we all wear the same hats ;-) ), since we will be short one naturalist for the rest of the season. That situation will ease up when we stop doing our evening trips in a couple weeks.
The naturalist on my boat today was just finishing day 10 of 10 days in a row. I told her to head to the office when we got back, and I'd clean the boat and get stuff stowed. When she got to the office, Joan told her that she'd take her evening office shift for her, and she could start her weekend off early. She was one very grateful (and tired) young lady. We do try to look out for each other around here.
Aloha! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment