Father's Day was spent on a lovely boat that started out to be a tour of the coastline but ended up being a whale watching expedition.
I would like to point out that I get seasick on a waterbed yet neglected to pop a dramamine before we left. The waters were calm and it just did not seem necessary. I wanted to be able to take pictures and not pass out & drop my camera in the water.
The excursion started out beautifully with a large school of dolphins guiding us out of Newport Harbor. About 15 minutes in, we were informed that a blue whale (!) had been spotted on the earlier trip and we may even get to see it if interested! Sure enough, almost as soon as the Captain made the announcement we immediately saw a glimpse of steam from a blow hole in the distance.
And the boat instantly took off in the direction of the sighting.
And we all braced ourselves on the railing.
And I almost dropped my camera.
I would like to point out that I get seasick on a waterbed yet neglected to pop a dramamine before we left. The waters were calm and it just did not seem necessary. I wanted to be able to take pictures and not pass out & drop my camera in the water.
The excursion started out beautifully with a large school of dolphins guiding us out of Newport Harbor. About 15 minutes in, we were informed that a blue whale (!) had been spotted on the earlier trip and we may even get to see it if interested! Sure enough, almost as soon as the Captain made the announcement we immediately saw a glimpse of steam from a blow hole in the distance.
And the boat instantly took off in the direction of the sighting.
And we all braced ourselves on the railing.
And I almost dropped my camera.
I tightened my strap, removed the lens cap, and proceeded to focus on the horizon, looking for a whale. I stayed in this position for about 10 solid minutes. The captain neglected to mention the time between the blow hole steam sighting and the actual representation of a blue whale. (uh, maybe 15 minutes depending on the "mood" of the whale)(wtf?) I am not sure what I *thought* I might capture on film (sorry, HD disc) but I envisioned an epic, memory-making shot of the whale's tale that my kids could take to school for show and tell. That did not happen.
We followed the small burst of steam all over the damn Pacific coast for the next three hours. The first mate would shout "THERE IT IS!" and the boat would go racing in the direction of his pointer finger. Then we would stop and rock quietly, patiently waiting for the whale to show up. Sometimes, a random passenger would shout "Thar she blows!" and the boat would take off again. This entire time, I stood at the ready with my camera aimed on the water. I took almost two hundred pictures and looking back over them, you would NEVER KNOW what you were looking at other than shots of the ocean. The captain told us the whale was being "finicky" that day. Ya think?
Here is the best shot that I got of the blue whale.
Behold:
Cannot identify what you are looking at? Me neither.
Leaving the Harbor. Look at the pure joy on those faces.
After 3 hours of whale chasing, the kids are DONE. D-O-N-E.By the end of the trip, everyone on the entire boat with exception of the Captain, First Mate and myself had thrown up or gotten seasick. Yes, read that again friends, I DID NOT get sick. Turns out that I was focusing my camera lens on water and trying to maintain my balance for three hours. Got a completely random shot of a (maybe) whale though!
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San Clemente Rainbow Peace
Laguna Beach Sunset
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The End.
THANK YOU GRANDMA CHERYL!______________________________
