Whales: Blue and Gray

[oldsalt]

To celebrate turning 80, I traveled to Baja to see whales. The whales turned out mimic the Civil War soldiers, blue and gray. We first went to Bahia Magdalena to watch gray whales. The experience differed dramatically from what I nomally see. In the Salish Sea or Depoe Bay the whales are scattered and feeding. And they are serious about feeding. Here, they were numerous. I counted over 30 around the boat at one time, with spouts in all directions. Spyhopping was commonplace, with several sticking their heads out of water at any time. This is very rare in Puget Sound.

Spyhopping

While I have had grays swim up to and under my boat, here they sought out the boats and interacted with the people. A lot of people petted the whales.

Interacting

Here is a shot of an eye and blowhole, so close you can't recognize it as a whale.

Closeup

A fluke.

Gray fluke

We then traveled across the penninsula to see blue whales in the Sea of Cortez. This photo shows a classic view of a blue, long smooth back with a ridiculously small dorsal fin back aft,

Blue dorsal

Interactions.

Blue and boat

This gives an idea of the geyser-like plume when the blue spouts.

spout

And a final fluke, 25 feet across.

Blue fluke

-Curt

[Jan K]

Way to go Curt ! Great pictures, great way to celebrate... Happy Birthday Oldsalt !

[YellowEye]

Happy Birthday Curt!

Glad you got to celebrate in style! Seeing a blue whale most have been wow!

Don't know if I mentioned this but in sept we had some really great whale action near Port McNeil BC, you may want to check that area out if you haven't already. The krill were so thick in some areas that the water looked like it was boiling. We had whale song on several dives, and had Humpback whales swimming in one of the dive sites before and after the dive. Unfortunately we didn't see them underwater lots of other great stuff like a swimming bear, minke, orca, otters, sea wolves, birds, sea lions, dolphins and seals. Thought of you!

[ScubaJess]

Happy Birthday Old Salt!!! So glad the amazing whales got to sing you Happy Birthday Live Long and Prosper!

[enchantmentdivi]

Happy Birthday, Curt!!! What an amazing experience. Thanks for sharing the photos! Glad to see you’re out there living life to the fullest!!

[oldsalt]

Thank you, friends. I surely miss seing you. YE: Great idea. I cruised up to Port McNiel in my sailboat years ago. I remember orca chasing dolphin, humpbacks, a grizzly bear turning rocks over on the beach to eat what was underneath, and wolves howling in the woods while we were enjoying the evening from the cockpit of our boat. Time to go back. Our Baja trip also inclued thresher sharks, sea turtles,
bottlenose dolphin, a sperm whale, and many wonderful birds.
-Curt