This past weekend my husband and mother-in-law took me on my first whale watching excursion. A humpback whale and her calf were breaching and fin-slapping like crazy that afternoon. The marine biologist giving us the tour said that the humpbacks are particularly playful when the ocean is choppy like this, but that we were experiencing more action than even she had ever witnessed prior to this tour. I like to believe she didn’t just say that on every tour, and that the whales actually were putting on quite a show just for us.
It was quite possibly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had yet. Even between the whale sightings, with the salty sea air whipping through my hair and the cold winds off the water just slightly burning my face, the three hours on the boat literally rocked my world. Looking just off the edge of the boat into the clear turquoise waters thrashing around the engines made me want to dive right in, but I know I would have immediately regretted the decision. And hey, I wasn’t That Guy Who Puked Off the Back of the Boat! I was quite the trooper.
These were taken by Jeremy, just off the shores of Monterey.
