Tim Sevenhuysen.com My courageous quest to make the world slightly less humdrum.

Whale Watching

I went whale watching yesterday, and it was pretty awesome. I didn't get to see any new types of whales that I hadn't seen before, since we stuck with the killer whales, but I got to see them in some ways that I hadn't seen them before.

The best moment was probably when one of the whales breached (i.e. leapt several feet out of the water) just behind our boat. It was maybe 20 or 30 feet away from me! Very cool.

The guide was a pretty entertaining guy. He had a lot of information to share and a dry, sarcastic way of presenting it that I enjoyed, though it was a touch abrasive, and I think most people missed some of his dryer jokes. (A few times I think I was the only person chuckling, but he's probably used to that.)

The biggest thing I learned was that some female killer whales can live to be over 100 years old! We were following one, whose name was Granny, who was apparently born around 1911. We also got to visit with her son, Ruffles, who was in his 80s, I think.

I don't have any of the pictures, since we didn't use my camera, but I may have a few to share at some point.