The Big 'uns are Back: Blue Whales.

[HBDiveGirl]

Nate: "I'll be happy just kayaking. If we see whales, fine, but it's a gorgeous day already!"

Blue whales are really big.
Trying to find one in 9 square miles of sea, when sitting at the water line in 15-foot kayaks.... well, it may be the worlds biggest stitching implement but it's still a needle in a haystack.

Our best tools: Silent kayaks, strong arms and shoulders, patience, and good ears.
These "needles" breathe.

Nate and I water-spidered out of King Harbor (Redondo Beach) on a couple of fast Scupper Pro kayaks and took a bearing on the third cloud from the left. With the sun rising at our backs, the water appeared solid, it's satiny surface dimpled by the light breeze.

Time Passed.
The breeze expired.
The water melted to glass.

The tiniest dark fin tip teased us from way Way WAY out.
Stopping to listen, Nate used his Jedi powers:

And we had whales:

Awe inspiring morning, as 2 "small" blue whales breathed and dived, breathed and dived.
One was about 40-feet long, the other just a little smaller.

On closest approach, one breathed about 8-feet away from me, rolling over under water as I watched its freckled white tummy flow by through the clear blue water.

We could hear their exhalations often, and several times we were near enough to hear the shorter, sharper inhalation.

40-feet of cuteness.

Thanks, Nate, for sharing an amazing morning!

~~~~~
Claudette


"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
--Albert Einstein

 

[tracydr]

Thanks for the great share! Any chance we might see them around Catalina next week?

 

[Peter_C]

Send them up our way already!

 

[Sam Miller III]

The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) was the first act of Congress to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation.....

"The MMPA defines harassment as "any act of pursuit, torment or annoyance which has the potential to either: a. injure a marine mammal in the wild, or b. disturb a marine mammal by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, which includes, but is not limited to, MIGRATION, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering."...

May want to independently review MMPA regulations and revise or delete your post.
But it was fun wasn't it?

We have had those cute little eating machines called Otters for ten years.. Often they will follow or swim up to our kayaks--not certain why? Curious or wanting a hand out? - If they swim too close we are in violation of MMPA; If we feed them we are in violation of MMPA....

Might want to toss your kayaks on the roof and travel north for another close encounter of the small wild mammal type.
SDM

 

[tracydr]

How was Claudette harassing the whales? Those pictures look pretty far away. I guess the one time they breached 8 feet away from her but harassing?

 

[Sam Miller III]

OMG...here we go ...another MLMTSBB..

disturb a marine mammal by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, which includes, but is not limited to, MIGRATION, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering."...

It is her problem-- if there is a problem? Certainly not mine or yours who is from from the whale watching state of Arid-zona


SDM

 

[Slater]

Cool to see them out there, all my fishing buddies have seen them all over the 9mile bank here in So Cal...

 

[drbill]

Sam, you probably know better than I on this but my understanding is that if the whales make the approach to the humans, that is different from humans approaching the whales. As you well know, one cannot control the movements of a large whale if THEY choose to investigate something or someone. Last summer we had a powerboat hit a blue whale as it surfaced unexpectedly in front of them. It did about $40,000 damage to the drive train of the boat but it was not the fault of the boater.

A few winters ago I was in Magdalena Bay leading whale watching expeditions. Of course this is in Mexican waters where the US Marine Mammal Protection Act does not apply. We were allowed to approach and observe the whales for a limited time, then had to back off. However, if the whale approached us we could stay with it as long as it wanted. One day we started backing off a gray whale after our allotted time . It swam over to us, partially lifted the Zodiac out of the water and dragged us back to where we were. We stayed with it for quite some time after that with the whale spending much of the time with its belly up beside the boat so our passengers could scratch its skin. I had been determined NOT to make contact with a whale while down there, but it was so obvious that the whale was initiating human contact that I finally broke down and touched it myself.

As for my take, I have a strong distaste for critters that give milk (can't stand the stuff myself). Many of them, including the blues and grays are mass murderers of critters I prefer to study... the planktonic inverts and small schooling fish. I fail to see why we afford such protections to them and not to the critters they massacre.

 

[TSandM]

I think it would be very hard to make a case that a small, human powered kayak was doing any harassing.

Beautiful photos, and a remarkable encounter on a stunning, glassy SoCal day!