I'll be honest. As much as I have always wanted to see whales in the wild, the thought of my body being hammered by the boat's engine vibration, the waves and swell and the cold wind was making me want to turn back and not do it.
I took motion sickness medicine 15 minutes before embarking, finished my biscotti and drank 1/4 of my soylatte.
Our guide was very enthusiastic about the preservation of the habitat of the seabirds and other marine mammals. Her passion is very inspiring. Our boat is a 30-40 feet charter boat called the Kitty Kat. I am glad that parts of the proceeds would benefit the research they are doing at the marine sanctuary of the Farralon Islands, which are basically huge pieces of granite some 30-something miles off the coast of San Francisco,CA. We are given instructions on how to do this type of handshake, I could no longer remember what it's called but you hold each other mid way between your wrist and elbow - to help each other's balance while on the boat. It's funny how the instructions on where the life vests are and the life rafts were given while on land and it was just briefly mentioned again while were in the boat :D. We were also asked to let the captain know if we see any trash in the ocean so that they can pick it up.
Our captain sneaked in quietly from behind all of us as we listening to our guide's discussion of the type of whales that migrate from Alaska to Baja California. I wouldn't even known it was him until she introduced him to us. I was expecting a man in his mid 50s-60s with gray hair (think Phil Harris from the Deadliest Catch - may you rest in peace) and imagine my (mild)surprise to see a fairly young man either in his late 30s to earlly 40s with brown hair and brown eyes covered at that time with sunglasses, and pretty darn cute in a weather-beaten, laid back sort of way.
Call me strange but I got a little concerned, and it might be an unfair assumption to equate his youth with "unseasoned". I do the same when I'm flying, I somehow feel better to see an older graying pilot than someone who is not graying and younger. :D
It turned out my concerns were unfounded. He has been doing this for 15 years and so is his crew (which really consisted of our guide and his co-skipper , another young man or I think he is, it's hard to say with African Americans because they always look younger than they are.)
As we boarded, I saw our guide holding out a bunch of valentine ballons and said that this was just fished out from the bay - how sad and disgusting how we can just trash our ocean like this. I can rant on and on about this but that will be for another posting.
I am not a fan of the roller coaster but the first 15-30 minutes of the ride was exhilarating as the boat rides swell after swell and I was a happy camper and it will probably the closest thing I'll ever do. It was quite a task to keep my balance while I click on my camera - the sunlight beaming from the clouds, the fog-draped Golden Gate and the perching apartments of Pacifica and the crashing sea foam green surf of the rocky Potato Patch.
Then the first wave hit me - wave of nausea that is. Fighting hard to fight the biscotti and the soylatte down, I tried to think of other things like how the wind feels on my cheeks and how great it will be to see some whales. At the same time though, my body is also being bombarded by sleepiness. I guess it just wasn't me because some of the passengers had their eyes closed on deck. I decided to be brave I walked to stand by the railings and watch the monotonous swell. It was a humbling experience to be in the vast Pacific Ocean and I find myself singing the opening lines of Marc Cohn's " Walking in Memphis" and I felt better and the nausea is gone - the motion sickness medicine finally kicked in.
The Farallon Islands is not just another rocky barren island, I didn't see any sandy beaches or trees- just rocks and sea foam green surf. It is the home and sanctuary for alot of birds and marine mammals. The only human inhabitants are a handful marine biologists and researchers, one of them even waved at us. There were sea lions jumping off from granite rocks and white seabirds standing out in contrast to the mossy green background on one of the rocky slopes. Two white houses stand side by side , at one of the base of the moss-covered slope , just a few hundred yards away from the crashing surf. I wonder how they get in the island because the surf and the rocks makes put any boats and its passengers in danger. I wonder what it would be like to live in one of those houses on a rocky island that is only about half a mile long. I think I can do it for maybe just a weekend - away from everyone, surrounded only by the vast ocean. It must be great to fall asleep with the sound of the surf just off the distance and the barking sea lions at the adjacent rocky island.
I forgot to bring my sunglasses (left it in my car at Pier 39) and I felt my eyes beginning to sting and it felt like there is heat behind my eyes. I tried to pull my hood over my head some more but I know my eyes have suffered from the glare of the oceanic horizon.
I feel so bad for some of the passengers who are hunched over the railing with their shoulders heaving. I also felt bad for some of the passengers who were just wiped out on deck and was fighting nausea by just dozing off and missing the experience.
Never loosing sight of the Farallon Islands (the captain was circling around it pretty much) to spot some whales. There was the occasional albatross and seabirds. It's fun to see a..what is it? A pod? A pod of sea lions riding the waves and skipping the waves in unison , but I wanted to see a whale but I was starting to think we might not see one.
Our efforts were paid off when the captain said a spout was spotted @ 2 o' clock. I braved the narrow walkway on the side to get to the front of the boat. I stood , scanning the monotonous swell and endless ocean - looking for a spout when someone shouted to look at 1 o'clock and there it was. There were two spotty gray whales and I only saw the top of their head before it submerged again. I was hoping it would do a deep dive where it would show its fluke as if wave hello or goodbye. It didn't do it. I know I won't see a breaching whale either but I can't help but wish :D. I was lucky enough to have captured the spout with a little head top on my camera and then I also caught it on video.
The only disappointing thing was it was all over too soon and we have to turn back.
It's amazing to pass under the Golden Gate and to have The City come into view. With San Francisco's Coit Tower and the TransAmerica building's triangular shape almost side by side, I was clicking away with my camera. San Francisco is a city blessed with rolling hills and beaches.
Will I do whale watching again? Absolutely, but not for maybe another 2-3 months. I might go up to WA State at the San Juan Islands - where Orcas are known to hang out :)
...I've never used photoshop until now ( I know!) and so, I'm at the very very early , in utero stages of learning this software and I got a little too excited in using the black and white feature so...:D
No comments:
Post a Comment