(Craig writes) With all of the amazing things we have seen on our trip we had hoped to be able to see an elusive whale before turning Eastward to head home. While in Victoria, British Columbia we heard that the whales had already headed South for their migration, so no whales.
We were sure that when we got to the Oregon Coast 2 weeks later we would see some at the famous Depot Bay, but the last sighting there had been a week before we got there, no whales again.
In Crescent City, California a park ranger told us that whales had been sighted 30 miles further South so we traveled up a long, narrow and winding road to the top of a mountain but once again, no whales.
At this point I'm beginning to think that every whale picture I had ever seen had just been computer generated and that Moby Dick was just fiction based upon fiction. Enter Captain Dave Anderson of Dolphin Safari in Dana Harbor, California. Since the weather was gorgeous and the seas were light we signed up to go on a 3 hour tour. Captain Dave uses powered catamaran sailboats for his tours so this morning Becky and I boarded the 35' vessel and headed out a few miles off the Southern California Coast for a last ditch attempt to see aquatic sealife that was larger than the sea lions we had enjoyed seeing so many of before.
The first hour produced nothing more than some kelp patties and a few birds. The second hour followed with a couple of buoys, some more birds and 2 helicopters flying by. As the third, and final, hour began all 19 people aboard were straining to see something when all of a sudden I spotted a large dorsal fin 100 yards off the stern. All of my life I had wondered how it would feel to yell "thar she blows" on a whaling vessel but decided to wait a little longer and just point excitedly and exclaim "there's one!" Sure enough we had found a young minke whale, (prounced mean-key). With cheering and excitment we followed the whale for several minutes as it surfaced several times and even blew out air and water a few times. With the safari over we headed back to port happy, dry and finally fulfilled in our quest to see the elusive whale.
By visiting http://www.dolphinsafari.com/ you can get info about Capt. Dave and how he helps support World Vision through sales of his award winning video "Wild Dolphins & Whales of Southern California."
We were sure that when we got to the Oregon Coast 2 weeks later we would see some at the famous Depot Bay, but the last sighting there had been a week before we got there, no whales again.
In Crescent City, California a park ranger told us that whales had been sighted 30 miles further South so we traveled up a long, narrow and winding road to the top of a mountain but once again, no whales.
At this point I'm beginning to think that every whale picture I had ever seen had just been computer generated and that Moby Dick was just fiction based upon fiction. Enter Captain Dave Anderson of Dolphin Safari in Dana Harbor, California. Since the weather was gorgeous and the seas were light we signed up to go on a 3 hour tour. Captain Dave uses powered catamaran sailboats for his tours so this morning Becky and I boarded the 35' vessel and headed out a few miles off the Southern California Coast for a last ditch attempt to see aquatic sealife that was larger than the sea lions we had enjoyed seeing so many of before.
The first hour produced nothing more than some kelp patties and a few birds. The second hour followed with a couple of buoys, some more birds and 2 helicopters flying by. As the third, and final, hour began all 19 people aboard were straining to see something when all of a sudden I spotted a large dorsal fin 100 yards off the stern. All of my life I had wondered how it would feel to yell "thar she blows" on a whaling vessel but decided to wait a little longer and just point excitedly and exclaim "there's one!" Sure enough we had found a young minke whale, (prounced mean-key). With cheering and excitment we followed the whale for several minutes as it surfaced several times and even blew out air and water a few times. With the safari over we headed back to port happy, dry and finally fulfilled in our quest to see the elusive whale.
By visiting http://www.dolphinsafari.com/ you can get info about Capt. Dave and how he helps support World Vision through sales of his award winning video "Wild Dolphins & Whales of Southern California."
2 comments:
How neat! Love the photos too! You look so cute on the boat with your hair wrap thing Mom! :) Glad ya'll finally got to see a whale! Sounds like a fun trip, no seasickness? No vertigo? Tom & I went sailing on our honeymoon in Maine and I got seasick on the boat. Fun times! :) Talk to ya'll tomorrow! Love you lots!
That sounds really exciting! I hope you got some pictures of that!
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