whale talker

Again a rather special day. We went out the other morning and at 8:30 am we spotted a whale breaching and tail lobbing about 2 miles away. We motored to it to find that it was actually 2 Humpbacks with one being a very showy male apparently courting a female (behavior is about the only clue but not exclusively). He was breaching, tail lobbing, pectoral fin slapping and rolling about with great enthusiasm while the lady cruised sedately next to him. We were quite close and it was all really beautiful.

The minute I got the first fluke shot I recognized him. He was “Odin”, a whale that I ID’d last year and my son adopted as a contribution to my work; thereby the name. What is so very special about this is that this is the only whale that I have ID’d in one year that returned another year; in other words my very first “returnee” or “recapture” (on camera of course). The fact that it was my son’s whale made it all the more deeply meaningful.

I did not get a fluke shot of his paramour but may have an identifiable flank shot. After the pictures were taken we went in with them but were only able to get within 50-60’. Jessica, Elizabeth and I dove with Jean-Luc, a good friend from Quebec.

My very supportive friends down here in Baja have put together a benefit for me on the weekend of March 27th-28th. When these wonderful people put their time and energy into my work I feel as though the Gods themselves are smiling on all of us.