Fish, uh excuse me, Mammals!!!

Finn & I went out yesterday for a very nautical day! Julie & Thor invited us to go whale watching off of the Balboa Island Peninsula. Unfortunately Thor couldn’t go with us because he was working – he actually manages the whale watching tours! So it was Finn & I, plus Julie and Scarlet. I hadn’t gone since grade school, but I remember it as being pretty enjoyable. Finn was thrilled of course, since he is obsessed with sea creatures; if you want to know anything about giant squid, he’s your man! I figured that it would probably be fun, but it really turned out to be an amazing day!!!

The first crazy thing was that we were the only people on a boat that sometimes has over 100 whale watchers! Well, it was actually Julie, Scarlet, Finn, and I plus Captain Bob and his assistant Genevieve. But it was definitely not over-crowded – in fact we felt really privileged to have that kind of experience. Genevieve told us that Mick Jagger had recently chartered the boat for himself and his small family, and it did kind of feel like we were rock stars : )

Learning about whales!

The crew of the boat were sooooo cool!!! Captain Bob let Finn drive the boat, and Genevieve gave us more information about whales (some of which even Finn didn’t know!) She also got off a good joke: when Finn asked what kind of whales we might see, she said, “Fin.” He said “What?” and she repeated “Fin”, etc. Finally, she said “Fin whales!” and he got it. She said that she had been waiting to use that joke all day : )

Helping with the ropes.

A sailor lad.

The first really exciting sea animals we saw were dolphins. I always love to see these guys since they seem to be having so much fun. These pictures don’t really capture it, because I kept on missing the jumps by a micro-second, but it was so fun to see them being so graceful and joyous! They probably have a tough life, but they make it look pretty great!

Looking out for whales.

By the time the trip was coming to an end, we still hadn’t seen a whale and, unfortunately, I was starting to feel a little sea sick – I hate my weak stomach!! It had been really fun, but of course, the whales are the big pay-off, and it was a little disappointing. But Captain Bob & Genevieve were on the lookout even as we were heading back, and when we were about 2 miles out, they spotted a spout (you can just barely see it in the picture)!! We headed towards it, but the whale dived down about 1000 feet to get a bite to eat, so we waited for it to come back up. That was such an exciting time – we didn’t know for sure that he (or she) would come back up soon, and if it did, whether it would come up where we could see it!

It took about 9 minutes, but finally, the whale came back up really close to our boat, and we moved in a little closer, but not too much – they really don’t want to bother the whales! It was amazing though!!! It was a huge blue whale - the largest animal that has ever been on the planet (thanks Finn)!! Captain Bob said that it was probably about 70 feet long, and could have been 60 to 70 years old! We watched it’s tremendous bulk gliding smoothly through the ocean – again, the pictures are so insufficient – and it spouted five or six times and then dived down again. It was another exciting wait, and then the whale came back up, and we really got a good look at it. Finally, best of all, when it got ready to dive again , we got a great view of its enormous tail – this is called “fluking”, and we all cheered!!! We felt so lucky – apparently even Mick Jagger didn’t get a whale : )

Heading back to the Peninsula.

We figured on going home after lunch, but there was one more great surprise in store. Thor asked Finn if he wanted to fish a little off of the docks. I always remember fishing as fun, but also as a long patient process with a chance of getting nothing. But this was totally different! Thor helped Finn get the line together and then he cast it in the bay. Almost immediately they got a bite! They had a great struggle, and then Finn pulled up his first fish – a sea bass! It looked pretty tasty, but Thor told us that in the bay it’s best to catch and release – the water’s not so clean – so they let that guy go. Then they tried again, and after some stolen bait and false alarms, they got another…

Finn's first fish!!

And another...

And another!!!

Final tally - 4 of the 5 types of fish in the bay!

We had such a great day – Finn drew a bunch of pictures of it when we got back! Thanks so much to Julie & Thor for an amazing nautical day!!!