Oh Humpbacks. How I love them. Seeing Humpback whales is always a little bit like watching fireworks on the 4th of July. When an animal the size of a school bus surfaces a football field away from your boat it is always shocking in the most wonderful way possible. There is always a collective gasp and then the “ahhhh”, when the animal lifts it massive tail and silently slips below the surface.
A forceful exhalation expelled at nearly 300 mph propels their warm breath up over 10 feet into the air, making them easy to spot from far, far away. It was this incredible biological mechanism that allowed the whalers to find and destroy these animals with such tenacity.
Last night we embarked on our evening trip with the intention of seeking the humpbacks we had encountered earlier in the afternoon. We heard they were in the same vicinity, and even a little bit closer to us. It seemed very doable. We motored out toward Victoria and as we approached the spot where the whales were previously milling, learned that they had taken a long dive and had surfaced a mile west of where they dove. Thanks to the incredible marine mammal dive reflex, humpback whales can hold their breath for close to an hour. We consider ourselves lucky when they surface after only 10 or 20 minutes.
Another boat spotted the Humpback whales when they surfaced and reported that they had suddenly picked up speed and were headed back out toward the open ocean at about 6 knots, with the current in their favor. The whales had moved almost 9 miles from the time we left the harbor to when we got to the area where we thought they would be. We had been traveling for 2 solid hours and had no choice but to turn around. Had we continued on we would have had a whole extra hour of driving time and would not have had any time to spend with the whales. We wouldn’t have been back until almost 11:00pm and some of our guests would have missed the last ferry back to the mainland.
On the way home we were treated to an incredible sunset, a beautiful nearly full moon, and the sounds of Steller’s Seal Lions barking on the rocks.
As a biologist, the job can be exhilarating. The opportunity to spend time with enormous creatures that were almost wiped off the face of the earth in our very lifetime is like an incredible gift. The first time I saw a Blue Whale my heart nearly stopped. The fact that we see these animals at all sometimes shocks me. The downside is that we have a very long way to go before these animals are “safe”. The reason I became a biologist and a naturalist is that I feel very strongly about education and awareness. It is hard for people to appreciate something they have never seen before and it is even harder to take steps to make things better if you have no idea what is wrong.
Wildlife watching is exactly what it sounds like. Wild animals do what they want and they go where they please. If we happen to be in the right place at the right time to get a glimpse into their wild lives then we should consider ourselves lucky. They aren’t trained to swim to the boat. They aren’t there to do “tricks” for us. It is important to be able to live in the moment, appreciate our wild surroundings, and every now and then, experience something that simply takes our breath away.
Laura, Naturalist