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.