This morning we got to go out on Fairmont's Canoe Rigger- in a word- AMAZING! It was so fun! Since the rowers knew we were local, they took us out farther than usual. We used leaves to wipe down our snorkeling masks and got to free swim in the deep ocean for awhile. If you swam down just 4 feet you could hear the whales singing to one another. It was incredible! One of the guys held up this clear stick, "Hey look. It's a barnical from the whales- it just fell off.......actually, no, it's a part of a jellyfish!"
Me: "Oh no! Did it sting you?" (As he throws it far away)
Him "Yep....k, time to get back in the boat. The larva is stinging!"
It did sting me! It feels like a mosquito bite....we quickly jumped back into the boat. Then we rowed for awhile longer and THREE whales- a mama, baby and the escort (aka guy) came up about 20 feet from our boat! INCREDIBLE! It was so close you could see the texture of its skin. (not skin...what's it called?!) It was majestic really. They cruised for awhile, exhaling out of their blow holes. "Bubba", the hawaiian guy on the boat, answered all my questions about the whales :)
1. They migrate down from Alaska and stay here for about 3-4 months because it's too cold to give birth up north.
2. They get pregnant around Sept and deliver around Feb-March
3. The babies drink the mama's milk- i think he said 140 gallons of milk a day!
4. The guys fight over the women. And they go hard at it- whenever you see tail slaps or breaches from the whales, its most likely the guys trying to win the affections of the girl whales- so they can be chosen to escort them up north. Isn't that so cool!? So yes, the women get to choose which guy.....I love how they vye for their attention.
5. The escort whales protect the mama and baby from sharks and scary water mammals :) What protectors!
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