Having close encounters of the whale kind
ISIorv by Mike Rivers
Photos by Michael Wilhelm
—
Migrating whales offer students
opportunity for a ‘whale of a time’
“Oooooohh! Aaaaaahh! Oh look, here
it comes! A tail, a tail!" Then there’s the
audihle sound of a dozen camera shut
ters clicking, and as the tail disappears
from sight, a hush of expectancy again
falls upon the group.
A gathering of fanatical shutterbugs
photographing disembodied flying tails,
you may be wondering?
CI„ose,: hut pot quite. The tails belong
, to gray whales migrating north to Alaska
••from' California, rand-the Voices- and
, cameras belOng'to peoplewho are taking
. advantage of the whale* watchirig exdur
sio’n offered by the SurviyaliGenter and
• Ppppre and.th^Oregon Coasf. The;dkeur-•.
siops'.are ofhtretl every weekend during .
• the months of.jariuary andMaircli.:' - 4 ..
Saturday*, an Emerald ’phbtograjihei;
® and I.'joined 43 other -people, andour
guide,’; Mart!-; Albiejl';dri tw5 -..vessels
... charlefed frdm'Kfhbafcatfero.Chartijfs- in
Newport .for ‘.a day-of whale ; watching'!
under a clour! less. blue'sky. ,.',
We httgaii-bur journey’ By‘meeting .out
, side .llie^Surviyal^C’enter office at4() a m.
After gjvihg tardies a t 5:'minuie.leeway,
‘our.gujde, 10 passengers and a dog nam
,ed Hobo boarded a van outside the EMU.
j'AllKough jhe sky was overcast as we left
.^Eugena/Jhid,forecast assured us that we
/•woujd, have no problem meeting the
(jfhe r . 4 4 |>eopie who had signed up for
the trip by the designated embarkation
; -time^
.: ; ,?^lie clouds gradually evaporated as we
drtive- leaving nothing but a distant haze
ih the briiliaht blue sky. The temperature
was hqvering at a balmy 58 degrees as
we punctually joined the others at our
destination.
We divided into two groups, one
group hoarding the Tempest, the other
hoarding the Kai-aku, and embarked on
our sea journey shortly after 1 p,m. After
leaving the “jaws" of Yaquina Bay
behind, we headed in a southwesterly
direction toward the last reported
sighting of whales, made by a returning
fishing boat. "Jaws” is the term used by
Newport locals for the jetties^ as they
sometimes "chew up” boats during stor
my weather, •' '• • .
As our prow cut through the ocean
swells, the skipper of the Tempest, Brian
Johnson, explained to me that the
various vessels spread themselves out so
as to have a greater chance of spotting
migrating whales. When a pod of whales
was spotted, the other vessels would be
contacted by radio and would all con
verge on the targeted area.
The first sighting was made by a third
boat, the Taku. after we’d been out for
little more than an hour. By the time we
joined the Taku, our anticipation had
mounted to an explosive peak. When the
first "spout," or "blow," was spotted,
people began to point excitedly and all
cameras went up to the "ready"
position.
We had stumbled across maybe two
pods of whales, each with four to five
whales. Their spouts were difficult to
isolate at first because from a distance,
they resembled ordinary whitecaps.
With some practice, however, we were
soon spotting them with ease.
A blow is created by the exhalation of
a whale as it surfaces from a dive. The
spout consists mostly of cpndensatiorr
created as. the whale's warm humid
breath; expands and cools in the sea air,
/-.ahQng with sea water blown into the air
' as the. whale begins its exhalation juiit
}ielow;the surface ; "r. *
’■.Once.we'.had ca light" up to the whales.
. o’uf .skipper cdt back.the engines to a
'.slqwoidle and- we followed the whales
'from a short distance, matching their
leisurely pafce. Albert..a veteran of whale
watching voyages, was impressed by
Johnson's gentle maneuvering of the
vessel.
‘The skippers are very skilled at eas
ing up to the whales ~ adept at it. which
is really nice,” he said.
The whales were in a playful mood,
teasing and tantalizing us by surfacing
briefly, then disappearing for minutes at
a time. We were first alerted to the sur
facing of a whale by a sound resembling
a hoarse, wheezing cough, which is
made when they blow. This was always
accompanied bv a blast of misty spray.
As they glided into their next dive, we
were able to see their scarred dorsal
humps and ridges, rising like dark hum
mocks from the ocean surface. And if we
were really lucky, the whales rewarded
our patient observation with a momen
tary glimpse of their flukes, or tails.
Seeing a fluke was the highlight of a
sighting, because they were quite large
and distinctive. As the tails splashed
down, they reminded me of gigantic
flyswatters wielded by some creature
that possessed inhuman strength.
After whetting our excitement with
these fleeting displays, the whales
would disappear under the surface for
what seemed like hours, but was actually
only minutes, before reappearing to our
portside at twice the distance.
When this occurred .all the whale wat
ching vessels in the vicinity (we had
been joined by several more by this time)
would increase their speed dramatically
and converge on the whale’s new loca
tion before slowing down to idling speed
again.
This pattern continued for about an
hour — our eyes rapidly scanning the
surface of the sea as we watched for the
next spout — before we finally turned
back.
We docked shortly after 4 p.m., and
after a quick but satisfying meal at Mo’s
Restaurant, we reboarded the van for the
return trip to Eugene.
As we drove back singing songs, play
ing ‘*20 Questions." or napping, one of
the members of our group playfully sum
med up the fun and excitement we'd all
experienced, saying. ”1 had a whale of a
time!”
Clockwise from top right: A whale
spouts in the distance; two whales sur
face together; cameras go up in the
ready position in anticipation of the
sighting; our mighty fleet in search of
close encounters; leaning for u closer
look.