Yesterday was a dream come true, and it was even better than I had imagined.
We set sail at 10:30 a.m. We were (wrongly) a little disappointed that we weren’t traveling on a zodiac, which is raft rather than a boat. But it’s not really tourist season here so the whale watch companies don’t have as many options as in the height of summer.
We boarded the Luna, about 10 of us and the captain, Jim (our hero). We set off on our three-hour tour and were so excited. Just 20 minutes into the trip, Captain Jim spots a fin. That guy has eagle eyes. It was a big male orca. He was a transient, Jim said, which meant he eats seals in addition to fish. There are three pods of orcas who live in those waters and they only eat fish. This is an important distinction.
The big male was alone at first and then a female and a younger whale joined him. They surfaced all around our boat and took a look at us. Jim kept us in the perfect spot. The pictures really don’t do it justice…when they got really close I didn’t want to be seeing them through my phone.
Then something amazing happened. Birds began landing on the water, hundreds of them. Jim said that meant there were schools of fish or lots of krill in that spot. He said with all the food, there would be seals.
Okay, I know there a lot of animal lovers out there. Us, too. Before we even got on the boat, I was telling Betsy about reading a blog from one of whale watching companies that mentioned they had witnessed the orcas hunt and how incredibly rare it was to see that. Betsy poked her lip out and said she didn’t want to see an orca catch a seal. Me, either. I assured her that it was so rare that it would never happen on our trip.
It did happen.Â
Suddenly that huge male whale surged out of the water and captured a seal. It happened super fast and we didn’t see the bad part, just the beautiful body of that massive whale shooting through the water with more power than I’ve seen in an animal.
Then the three of them did something so incredible. They celebrated. They kept coming up to the surface, rolling, showing their tails, looking at us…right at us. The male came up head first. It’s called spy hopping. He wanted a good look around and wanted us to be impressed. We were.
They never left us. Instead, we left them because Captain Jim got a call about some humpbacks. So we headed to check them out. And again, amazing. A big female, they call her Big Momma, and her calf. She returns to those waters every three years or so with a calf. The calf was playful, spinning in the water, flapping its tail and showing its fin. The mother would dive deep and the calf would play on the surface and then she came back up blowing.
Most of the time when she went down, she didn’t raise her tail, but twice she did. Big whale tail on the surface. Breathtaking to see. A dream come true.
Kim & Betsy 
I so enjoyed reading this and I am beyond thrilled that you finally got to see some whales! 🙂 I can't wait to hear more!-Hayley Tyler
Wow, orcas and humpbacks on the same day…how awesome! Love that you were on a boat named luna, made me smile. 🙂
Whales are amazing maybe I'll hit the lottery and get to take my grandsons on amazing trips some day. Wish I could be two places at once. I think I'd pick the Lucas Day day today though. Y'all have fun