The Whale Watch I Will Never Forget

In Puerto Piramides, after we moved into our hostel, I thought “what are we going to do today?” Then we went down to the beach and got a whale watch for 4 PM and as quick as I could think we were out on the bay off of Puerto Piramides. I couldn’t wait to get out and watch whales and I thought, “how long are we going to see one of the whales?” I didn’t know how long we were going to see each whale. Would it just go down and we would leave or would it go down and we would wait for it to come back up? But, as we finished our boat ride out to the whales it just faded away from my mind because the whales we were seeing were amazing. Although I had already seen Southern Right Whales off the dock in Puerto Madryn earlier that morning, it was still amazing, but I did feel like we were disturbing them a little more with the boat.

The first two Southern Right Whales we saw were mother and calf (I was happy to be able to see a mother and calf, not just a mother and not just a father). As we watched the mother and calf, we didn’t really see the mother because she was turned upside down and her white belly was right there in front of our faces. It was pretty cool to see the mother really, really tired of feeding her calf, which was why she was turned upside down so the calf couldn’t reach her. It was a pretty amazing sight and they came pretty close to the boat. We didn’t really get to see their tails much, but that didn’t matter. I was just happy to see whales. Now, here are a few pictures.

Now, we had to leave the mother and calf, but later I was really happy that we left them because…….

We came upon a female with two males trailing after her. I was happy now to see all of the different kinds of Southern Right Whales that we could see; a male, a female and a calf. The males and female I found out were getting ready to mate and the female was going to find out which male was strongest. They had to reach her but first had to follow her. Then we saw the female go down with her tale flopping up in the air and the males followed her, trying to mate with her, but only one would succeed. I thought that the last one was the one that was going to fail. As they kept going under and up, and under and up, and under and up, I thought “how long are they going to be able to do this” and then the boat stopped and turned as they turned around in a circle. As the two males were there a third one came up and one of them faded away. Then as one went under water the other backed off because he probably thought he was too far away. The male that was underwater I thought was belly to belly with the female because she wasn’t going down. As the female circled, they would have done a half circle, and then they started turning a little sharper. As the female was maybe only as far as from my head to my feet away from the boat I was wondering what had happened to the male. But now some quick pictures (make it Quick the good part is yet to come)

Then one thing happened. That in a lifetime I will never forget how excited I was when I saw the body of the male Southern Right Whale popping up right in between the female and the boat. I could have touched him. Everybody here (or tourists here) always are amazed by how close you can get to the whales. They say it felt so close that I could touch them. But to everybody, and to even you, I have to tell you one thing. I could have touched them. I’m not saying that I FELT like I could touch them, I COULD touch them. He came up, bubbles rose, and then a humongous body just went PPPOOOOOOOLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! *

It surprised me so much. My hand was kept in the boat, but I wish I could feel the difference of the whale skin and other skins, but I knew that I shouldn’t do it. That is one thing that has sunk into my mind and will stay there for as long as I will live. That might have been one of the maybe five times already in my life that I have had something that will stick to my head. It was so amazing I just can’t bear to think how mad I would have been to have not picked that whale watch. I wish I could have paused my life and played a movie of that whale coming 50 or maybe even 100 times before I would have been able to start my life up again. The video is up there* and you can watch, 100 or as many times as you would wish, but for me that’s just not as amazing as seeing it in person. So, for me that is not enough, but hopefully I get another thing that will stick to my head as long as I live soon. Hopefully before we get back to Buenos Aires, but I don’t think so because the only thing that will stick to my head like that is usually wildlife. One of the favorite things that I have ever seen is wildlife. I would have died to see the amazing sites that some people, very few, but some people have seen of wildlife. But, that was only the beginning. I have yet to make my life an interaction with the hardest wildlife to find in the world.

but as I said the beginning has started the rest has yet to come I will be waiting for more to come…..

(typed by John, but definitely written by Jack)