Last Saturday the family went out to Monterey Bay in Central California to do something that the family had earlier attempted but not been successful at fulfilling - WHALE WATCH.
Earlier expeditions in various locations in the Pacific had yielded no results from the tip of the Baja Peninsula through the Hawaiian boating trip or the venture out of Puget Sound off the Seattle coastline as well as a trip out of Anchorage, Alaska - them mammals just did not want to be seen.
This time we decided to try the shallow waters off the Monterey Peninsula. And we struck Gold, Jerry Gold!
As in a wonderful performance by a pod (not to confuse with the 'i' gizmo ubiquitously adorning every youth in the 15 to 30 age group) a collection of these stately beast - three of them including one calf.
The ones we encountered on this trip were 'Killer Whales' or 'Orcas' and they were ecstatic or annoyed or something to see boats with 2 legged mammals staring at them with open mouths.
It was worth the 3 hours we spent being bounced in semi-freezing wind (although the sun did grace us by his presence into the trip) like we were riding a wild bronco (not the OJ kind) with ants in its pants.
Then we realized that the whole Whale Watch idea is just that - you do a lot of waiting and watching to actually see these animals emerge from the dark blue depths and throw a show you will not forget.
The trio was seen cavorting at high speed diving and surfacing to suck air and spout it out through the nostril on top of their skulls. This was followed by some fantastic posturing on their rears as to show off their smooth white undersides to the audience in the boats.
We had a good wildlife expert on board who took some time to explain their habitat and habits as well as life expectancy which rivals the folks in Japan or where they tend to hit the 100 mark.
Steady diet of fish and lot of swimming can get you there I suppose with not much of work life balance issues to worry?
They are called Killer Whales since they do do that - Kill Whales for food amongst other meaty and fatty snacks like sealions or otters.
Our collective joy surpassed the aches and pains we discovered over the next few days and would love to take another trip out later this summer to see if we can spot other kinds of Ceteceans (the order of large animals living at sea) like the Humpback or Sperm Whales.
Earlier expeditions in various locations in the Pacific had yielded no results from the tip of the Baja Peninsula through the Hawaiian boating trip or the venture out of Puget Sound off the Seattle coastline as well as a trip out of Anchorage, Alaska - them mammals just did not want to be seen.
This time we decided to try the shallow waters off the Monterey Peninsula. And we struck Gold, Jerry Gold!
As in a wonderful performance by a pod (not to confuse with the 'i' gizmo ubiquitously adorning every youth in the 15 to 30 age group) a collection of these stately beast - three of them including one calf.
The ones we encountered on this trip were 'Killer Whales' or 'Orcas' and they were ecstatic or annoyed or something to see boats with 2 legged mammals staring at them with open mouths.
It was worth the 3 hours we spent being bounced in semi-freezing wind (although the sun did grace us by his presence into the trip) like we were riding a wild bronco (not the OJ kind) with ants in its pants.
Then we realized that the whole Whale Watch idea is just that - you do a lot of waiting and watching to actually see these animals emerge from the dark blue depths and throw a show you will not forget.
The trio was seen cavorting at high speed diving and surfacing to suck air and spout it out through the nostril on top of their skulls. This was followed by some fantastic posturing on their rears as to show off their smooth white undersides to the audience in the boats.
We had a good wildlife expert on board who took some time to explain their habitat and habits as well as life expectancy which rivals the folks in Japan or where they tend to hit the 100 mark.
Steady diet of fish and lot of swimming can get you there I suppose with not much of work life balance issues to worry?
They are called Killer Whales since they do do that - Kill Whales for food amongst other meaty and fatty snacks like sealions or otters.
Our collective joy surpassed the aches and pains we discovered over the next few days and would love to take another trip out later this summer to see if we can spot other kinds of Ceteceans (the order of large animals living at sea) like the Humpback or Sperm Whales.
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