Whale Song

Hey guys, been a few days since we last posted. Nothing much has been going on, been busy with school details and work around the house.

Till this morning of course. There are certain things in life that you know you would never go through again. This was one of them.

We arrived slightly before 10am to the beach shack down by the ocean activity centre and 2 out-rigger canoes were being prepped for launch. Imagine a bright yellow boat with a banana like extension of the left side of it, and long enough to fit 6 people. After a brief explanation and demonstration from the instructors, we took off into the Pacific Ocean, paddle in hand and eager to explore.

Going for about 20mins of paddling out into open water, they told us to stop paddling and just chill out and watch the ocean. The younger kid in my canoe wanted to jump into the ocean, (Vincent and I were on seperate canoes, but we were close-by to each other's), so the instructor told her to go ahead, and he added to her to go under water to see if she could hear and whale echolations.

The MOMENT he said that, not sooner or later, i heard it. That ethereal-like call, like something out of this world. It was a slow and gentle song, and as hard as i try to crack my head to find words to describe it, i cant place a finger on it. It was just surreal. A Whale Song.

Everyone got really excited and starting looking around eagerly to spot the whales. The instructor, (I should probably mention his name now, Randall.), said that its rare to hear them so loudly, which means that they were really close-by, like 40-50 yards. They could be really deep down too though. They werent though. With a loud puff of air, her blow-hole sent a spray of water up into the air and dove back down back into the ocean. "Thats probably all we're gonna see of them." said Randall, apparently because they only come up to breathe every 30-45mins and just head deep back down into the ocean.

Thankfully, that was not the case.

The great hump-back whales then began to put on a most spectacular show. It was a mother and a calf, and what looked like, to this untrained eye at least, a teenager probably. They were cresting with their small dorsal fins breaking the surface, almost as if they were peeking at us and diving back down again. The calf frolicked near the surface, swirling and turning, its white underbelly contrasting the deep blue, flapping his fins on the water, waving to us, almost. We were probably no more then,i dont know, maybe 20-30metres away from them. The calf at one point started to get, according to Randall, a little curious about our floating banana boats and starting making his way towards us. Slightly alarmed, we began to backpedal the boat as the mother herded her calf away from us. Yes, we were that close.

We just sat there on our boats, lost in the beauty and mesmerized by the show mother nature was putting on for us. It was absolutely the most wonderful experience i have ever had. Something that left a very deep impression on me. During dinner, my uncle Paul was talking about the whaling going on in Japan and condemned it, rightfully so. I think back to the sights i saw in the morning, and wonder sadly, about the morality of it all. I believe myself to be very lucky to be able to watch these endangered animals in their natural habitat, and hope that future generations can enjoy it for many more years to come.

Im sorry there aren't and pictures of this, because we totally were not expecting to even see whales on this paddling trip. But it would be cool if you guys go look it up on youtube or wiki, and perhaps be more aware of the precarious situation that our Ocean's wildlife are in, like Sharks for shark's fin and the Whaling industry.

It was a beautiful morning indeed.

EDIT: Here's what we heard, its not IT exactly, but you get the picture: