Pic of HB# 17

April 7^th was my last successful search for humpbacks. Overall my season has been rather short and not particularly productive. This is HB# 17 13 – the final tally for this year. Last year I had 83 whales ID’d so you can see what I mean about short. Do not worry that it is due to some environmental influence, plenty of whales showed up north and south of me, I just didn’t get to the right place at the right time. I will be on site next season as always and may still have some encounters as I kayak in The WZ during the rest of this year. Last year I had one of my very best encounters in July.

Grunts on the move

Alan and I did get in that tank dive on the reef before he left, and as always it was a treat. Snorkeling is great but a tank dive is a whole other world! I still have a half tank of air left so will probably do a solo dive in the not too distant future. The water is warming and becoming more clear, so more to see. At one point Alan and I were surrounded by so many fish that we couldn’t see up, down or to our sides – NOTHING but fish.

 My "Sweet Thing" - Terry Kerr

During April I was once again visited by my Sweet Thing, Terry Kerr, from North Carolina, and the sun shone brighter, the sea was even more beautiful and the sunrises/sunsets delicious. When Terry first visited here two and a half years ago she was reluctant to go in the water due to a couple of serious and traumatic water incidents in her youth - therefore having never learned to swim. On the 25^th she donned wet suit, mask and snorkel and came into the water with me to swim with dolphins in the deep blue – now that’s courage! Later in the week we snorkeled on the reef and again she was game – sweet!!!

T on the reef

We also came across this most beautiful and huge Fin Whale while searching for humpbacks. This is only the second one I have ever seen!

 Fin Whale

We went out one more time in early May on a search for humpbacks with our friends Roxanne and Darrel but no luck.

On the 5^th of May I went out in my kayak to The WZ. Halfway out I heard the distinct sound of a blow. I tried to see the whale but couldn’t place it. I thought I was mistaken so continued to kayak further out. Then I heard it again, turned towards the beach but then lost it again. When I came in much later my friends on the beach said they had seen what looked like a gray whale go by very close to the beach. If I had continued in I would have made an intercept. Oh, well!

 Charlie Patton and Danny Dillon - my mates 1998

I came across this pic the other day while going through my files. I took this of our first mate Charlie Patton (Cornishman) waving the peace navy flag as we passed the USS Missouri as it was being towed to Pearl Harbor in 1998. This was on The ATOC expedition that took me from SF to Baja and then to Hawaii on the sailing schooner Dariabar. I went as a crewman, not a director or scientist, and it became one of the three top experiences ever in my life. That’s Danny Dillon our radioman at the helm.

 Me at the helm of the sailing schooner Dariabar

Me pretending to be a seasoned hand. This was shortly after having weathered a Beaufort 8 gale in mid-pacific – HOOHAH!

 Mi casa

This is my home. Come next January it will be my 5^th anniversary as a full time resident here in El Cardonal. I am still the only gringo that lives here year round. Only Roxanne and Darrel up in San Isidro (3 miles away) also brave the whole year.

Took my new Kodak Play Sport camera on the reef the other day and took these shots. Can’t wait to get in the water with one of my whale friends an get a pic. A couple of days ago while on my second to last humpback search we came across a herd of about 200 Bottle Nose Dolphins. Chris ( a new friend from Montana who has a home in San Isidro) and I dove in and had a great time with dozens of dolphins all around us. I made a bunch of “water-polo moves” on them and they seemed to love the action. At one time I was literally surrounded by as many as thirty dolphins egging me on! I’ve got to tell you – FANTASTIC – and I forgot my camera!!!

However – here are some shots I took the other day on the reef.

Cortez Round Stingray

Guinea Fowl Puffer

Giant Coral

King Angel Fish

Can’t resist a bit of proselytizing:

 

The Kaldveer Method

One of my favorite, albeit "endangered" birds - The Northern Cardinal

Well here it is mid April and I am still a bit low on IDs. Not to worry, the whales are fine, Jorge had a great season out of La Paz, muchas ballenas! I’ve got 17 IDs, 6 world class and 2 world class blue whale IDs. As always I am honored and thrilled simply to be with them. If you have read my book you know why.

Some of the highlights of the past month: A short swim with HB# 2 and 3, a  mother/calf pair.

                         HB# 2 and 3  13             

 The 26^th of March was an extraordinary kayak day with my good friend Charlie Evans, his son Kenneth and cousins Joe and Alan. Charlie got out to The WZ even before I did and was treated to 3 HBs. After we joined him we encountered yet another 2 HBs AND a Blue Whale. We were all real close to the blue whale especially Charlie’s cousin Joe and my buddy Alan Pomeroy. They went in but the whale was long past them. No pictures but I have purchased a Kodak Play Sport camera so there will be a whole new level of photos coming next year – it has video also and is of course waterproof!

If that’s not enough we went out the next day with all the “crew” in two pangas for a ID run and saw a total of 9 whales of which I was able to get 3 world class IDs. Grace made an attempt at an in water encounter and got within 150’ so she definitely qualifies as being in “whale world”. Also Joe the day before with a blue whale.

                  

"Charlie's Crew": Carolyn, Grace, Alan, Joe, Kenneth, GiGi

                   

                      B# 2 13, a grand blue whale

                   
               HB# 15 13

Three days later I went out alone and chased 5 HBs all over “Hell and back” in my kayak but had no major encounters – great exercise and again just to be in their presence is a major high.

Had my first good dolphin swim of the year on the 2^nd of April. Alone out in The WZ and about 20 Common Pacific Dolphins went by. I was able to swim with two of them for a while – SWEET!

Almost bought the ranch the next day driving in La Paz. I came to major intersection where a car was stalled so I slowed down and then came to a full stop. The guy behind me didn’t see that, when he did it was panic brakes time! I couldn’t move and as I looked into the rear view mirror I saw him fish tailing toward me. I thought, “no shit, I’m f**ked”. Then I put out a screen of energy by saying, “nope, you are not going to hit me”…..and he didn’t! When he finally stopped he was three inches from my bumper – HOOHAH!

                        

                         

A couple of days later I met the family renting my neighbor's house (Alex and Leslie Cook) and they turned out to be some of the most delightful people I have ever met. I took Bill and his daughter Lucia out for a search on the 4^th and we came upon both a HB and a blue with good IDs on both.

                  
                     Lucia and me

                            

                

                  The Conin's sans papa Bill - Amanda, Lucia, Jeremiah

 My neighbors in San Isidro, Roxanne and Darrel (the only other Gringos that live in the area full time) recently road tripped down the Baja and passed through the town of Marmol. It was there that the onyx for this statue in St. Paul Minnesota was mined.

                                 

"Vision of Peace" statue, 1935

On the 8^th Alan and I decided to do a tank dive on the reef. Pretty much nothing went right – Alan forgot his weights, I didn’t have enough weight (since losing so much body fat I need more to get down), the wind came up, the current was intense, visibility sucked and we got tired. It took all I had to get my gear back up into my kayak. We left the reef worn BUT NOT DEFEATED. We are already planning our next dive.

I wanted to throw this in. This is my mom and my daughter in Morocco before mom passed away in 2004. She was an inveterate traveler and adventurer – great roll model.

                   

               Mom (Erika) and Kersti

On the 10^th I was doing my beach exercises (too much wind for me to kayak) and had just reached the point most distant from my gear when I saw a mighty breach just ½ mile out. There was a mother and calf and the mother was teaching the calf some basic surface behavior techniques. Oh, how I wanted to go out! As I started back to my place I saw my neighbor Alex Cook coming down the bluff with paddle in hand. He launched his kayak and went in pursuit – in some serious chop! When he got into the zone he lost track of the whales for a bit but then they suddenly resurfaced near enough for him to have a “close encounter”. For the next ½ hour or so Alex paddled next to them (no more then 30’ away) and was treated to that very special space when one is accepted by The Whale People. I was elated that Alex had the desire, the courage and the sensitivity to do this – well done amigo!

Things are moving ahead on the marine lab dream. It is very possible that the local secondary school will donate a piece of land adjacent to the school in El Cardonal to put the building. This is huge!! At the same time the university in La Paz, through the support of Dr. Jorge Urban, may take on the administration of the lab and work with me to develop a local marine biology program. It’s all a bit heady and none of it is in writing yet but I’m keeping the faith. It’s a win, win, win situation for everyone!

As I write this on the 16^th I am being visited by a very old and dear friend. We first met as competitors on the sports field in the 5^th grade and have stayed in touch ever since along with my other two old compadres, Bill Symon and John Erving. This morning Frank (Denney), Alan and I did a sunrise kayaking out to The Whale Zone. It was Frank’s first time in a kayak. We were treated to a calm sea, beautiful sunrise and a good sized herd of Common Pacific Dolphins that passed right through our group.

                
Frank Denney - Urmas, sunrise in The WZ

Well that’s about all the news. Some thoughts before I go:

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” –Rumi

                    

                       Sea Gull and humpback friend - not my pic

                                

                                   Enough said, eh ?

                  
                     Recommended reading !

 Equinox - March 20th, 2013

OK folks, tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox. Spring is officially here - and not determined by human timetables but by the tilt of the earth in relation to the Sun. Once again a major time of celebration for ALL the earth’s people without the prostitution of this day by religious fanatics of any persuasion and pre-dating their dogmas by tens of thousands of years.

And what could be more appropriate to interject at this moment than the recent addition of a bright new soul to our world. Her name is Layla and she is the daughter of my friends - and past students - Melissa and Jesse Conger. Please welcome this child with a deep breath and a warm smile.

 Layla and Melissa

It has been a full and exciting month, albeit without any whales to ID. I have been out six times now and have only one ID to show for it. Nothing serious I’m sure - plenty of sightings south of me but not many here in my grid as of yet.

The Q’s were here for a month but left yesterday and I will sorely miss them indeed. They are great kayak partners, whale spotters and keep a constant stream of fresh baked goodies coming from their kitchen – not to mention their sweet and sincere devotion to me.

The "Q's", circa 2013 - Quentin, Tristan, Antoine, Brigitte, Jean-Luc

I was also treated to a week-long visit with my dear friend Susan Janssen. We were colleagues at the college for years, always good friends and she is a devoted and avid whale spotter. Unfortunately, in the case of both The Q’s and Susan, our searches were for naught this time around.

No whales but I'm on the sea where I belong

Some of you may have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Comet PanSTARRS a week or so ago. My camera could not focus properly but here is a pic I got online that is almost exactly as I saw it from my roof. A reminder of the grandeur of the Universe and the ignorance of thinking we are the only inhabited planet. 2000 extra-solar planets have now been identified and new ones discovered faster than we can name them – and Mars has clays containing all the necessary ingredients for life. Right, we are the only inhabited planet – ludicrous!!

Comet PanSTARRS - March 12th, 2013

Perhaps it is now appropriate for me to mention the “moving onward” of a friend - Carrie Hamburg. The comet is just how I see her. “Que les vaya bien, Carrie”, you were a hoot!.

I have a little story to tell about a whale I know, his name is now “Samson”, with the technical designation of HB# 33 10 (thirty third whale identified in 2010).

HB# 32 10 - "Samson"

Samson was adopted recently by the sons of Stephanie Cannaday as a gift from Lorri Badran who attended one of my presentations in Los Barriles. I have a power point show I do about the whale people and a number of my whales have been adopted by the folks who attend. The boys received this photo ID of Samson and his data sheet from 2010. Not more than a week later I was going through my photo files and found that Samson was a badly wounded whale (determined by the flank shots I took) and I wanted Jorge’s (Dr. Jorge Urban Ramirez, UABCS) opinion on the wound. Here is that photo:

Samson, 2010 - Sea of Cortez, cerca Los Barriles

He replied immediately and said that it was definitely a propeller strike from a boat. Upon further examination of his files he said that this whale had been seen before – in Alaska in 2005 and was then already wounded!

Samson, 2005 - North Pacific, cerca SE Alaska

I sent both pictures to Lorri - the family was heart broken that their whale had been hurt so. I felt bad about that and upon searching through my pics yet again, I found that Samson had had a partner with him the day I took the shot. His/her technical designation is HB# 32 10 and here is that whale's photo ID.


Hb# 32 10 - "Urho"

 Much to my surprise and delight HB# 32 10 had not been yet adopted! That is interesting because I had very carefully gone through my old files and was CERTAIN that no other whales could be adopted from 2010 – they were all already taken. How could I have missed HB# 32 10?? Seeing that as an omen I sent the folks HB# 32 10 as a gift with the statement that they could now know that Samson may be wounded, but he is a survivor and has a partner. His partner is now “Urho” – so named by a three year old in their family.

Shortly after this I saw that another (this is happening more and more as the whales become entangled in the increase in fisherman's nets) humpback was recently rescued by a quick response team in California. It had been entangled in a net and would certainly have died had those humans not been willing to put their lives on the line to help a member of “The Whale People”. Warms my heart!!

Another human/whale interaction - RESCUE

These are the kinds of stories I tell in my presentations and in a special talk I gave in Cabo Pulmo on a “Guest Writer’s Night” a week ago regarding my book, THE OTHERS "The Whale People" A Personal Journey of Discovery, Transformation and Healing.

Intimate night in Cabo Pulmo - story telling

I recently watched the movie ‘V for Vendetta” again. There is some gratuitous violence but all in all a movie worth seeing.


Prophetic

And finally a few words of wisdom from two of my favorite people.


Depp/Capt. Sparrow

And for those who are perhaps offended by my occasional tirades against organized religion, here’s something from The Dali Lama that pretty much says it for me.


Simple, direct, no sin, no judgement, no self appointed representatives to The Great Mystery.

Another "sailor take warning" sunrise!

On the 4^th of this month I had my first kayak encounter with a whale for this season. I succeeded in intercepting a whale a bit out from The WZ and when I got to within about a quarter mile I discovered it was a fin whale (first I’ve ever seen). I eventually got within 50’ of it and it was a beauty! They are the second largest of the great whales – not exactly rare but unfortunately endangered. It was an honor to be compadres for a few moments.

              

Fin Whale

I was also visited by a group of dolphins that day and had a great swim in over the reef afterwards.

                 

Common Pacific Dolphins - this pic was taken two years ago

The next day I saw three humpbacks from my roof and hustled down to the beach to launch my kayak (it’s about a 10 min. drill), but for the first time ever I was turned back by the wind at about 1/8 mile out. I may be obsessed but I ain’t stupid!

On the 8^th it was a perfect day for a search but due to a mix up in scheduling (that I’m still pissed off about) I couldn’t get out to The WZ in a panga so I went out in my kayak. In just ½ hour I encountered four humpbacks (would have been four certain ID’s) and one Bryde’s whale. I got real close to two of the whales. One of them never did a flukes up and I was able to kayak next to him for a good mile or more. We were separated by only 10’ most of the time and never further away than 20’ – that was sooo cool! I talked to it the whole time, sang a bit, chuckled a lot.

               

Humpback up close

The 17^th was my first time out on a search in the panga. Did the full grid but not a whale in sight. I went out again on the 19^th, this time with my friend Ishmael and we came across three humpbacks. I only got one ID - but world class – and he has been adopted by my good friend Marilee Spurlock in Hawaii. His name is now “Beethoven”.

              

"Beethoven" - HB# 1 13

When Ishmael and I got to where the other two whales had been breaching they were gone. It was all about, “one bird in the hand…..”

Went out yet again yesterday (the 24^th) but not a blow anywhere. We did however come across a herd of hundreds of Common Pacific Dolphins, quite a sight!

             

My "other" family - The Q's, went out with me yesterday. From left - Antoine, Jean-Luc, Quentin, Brigitte, Tristan.

 Next window of opportunity looks like next Sunday or Monday – big wind today and the rest of the week.

Check out this video of a “calving” glacier back in 2008 – impressive!!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0

On May 28, 2008, Adam LeWinter and Director Jeff Orlowski filmed a historic breakup at the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland. The calving event lasted for 75 minutes and the glacier retreated a full mile across a calving face three miles wide. The height of the ice is about 3,000 feet, 300-400 feet above water and the rest below water.

Back in 2006 while looking for a publisher for my Indian ethnography, one of the reviewers suggested I turn the manuscript into a historical novel. I worked on it off and on till last year when I handed it over to a new friend, Lance Larson, who had more expertise in dialogue than myself. Well, he finished it and it is now available on Amazon as an e-book. Check it out.

                         

My first, perhaps only, attempt at fiction.

Overall things are going rather well for me, I am most pleased with my health at this point and the health and happiness of my two much loved and respected children – Kersti and Zack. Here’s a little ditty that Kersti puts as a post script on all her mail – brings a smile to me every time.

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...

it's about learning how to dance in the rain!" 

                 
Kersti always ready to go with a smile.

                      
Kersti at University graduation - attitude!


                  
 Kersti recent - still smiling!

And look what The Estonians are doing!

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/23/estonia-is-1st..."

              

Estonian flag - blue illuminates a bright future and represents the nordic sky, black is a reminder of the people's past struggles and represents the earth (or soil), and white represents the efforts of the people toward enlightenment (the literal translation is "toward the spiritual light") and represents both the snows of winter and the bright summer nights.

Here are a few extraneous shots:

                            

My way of relieving the tensions of graduate school - 1968

                            

If we don't care for our oceans, the rest is immaterial.

                              

Here's hoping!