whale talker

just like I thought, my volunteers have brought better luck. Yesterday was good, today even better. They encouraged an earlier start so we went out at 7:00 am not 8:00 am. Within minutes a whale is spotted but it has a clearly stronger blow than a Humpback. Has to be a Blue and it was. Got our ID and then saw a blow off in the distance and motored to it....a Humpback! Got a real good ID on it and flank shots on one side. Then Vicente sees some more blows about 1 1/2 away. We motor there and two more Blues Whales. Good IDs all around and a happy group of searchers. Wind came up again but satisfaction all around.

By the way; my volunteers are Elizabeth Plumb from The University of Kwazulu Natal in Durban South Africa and Jessica Pletz from the University of Iowa. Elizabeth received her degree in Environmental Science and Marine Biology and Jessica received hers in Environmental Biology. They are teaching me many new things. It is a delight to be with two intelligent, young, recently graduated, science students. And they listen to my stories with consummate grace.