We woke up and spruced ourselves up to see the whales. Luckily what had been a fairly windy night had turned into a mild morning. We walked over the the restaurant cum office where the tickets are sold to go out and see the whales in pangas. The pangas hold 10 people and the captain. We were behind a large group that needed 3 pangas to accommodate them so we milled around for a bit and chatted a bit with some of our fellow whale watchers. Eventually we were marshalled out a medium size dock down to our panga where our captain, Polo, awaited us. Once we were all settled, we motored out to the middle of the lagoon. We didn’t have to wait long until the whales came to us, The mamas and babies approached the little boat readily, with the mamas actually pushing their babies towards the boat. There was lots of oohs and aahs and murmers in both English and Spanish about the beauty of these grey whales. They were not quite as big as I thought, but that did not diminish my astonishment and wonder when I got the pet these lovelies and actually look them in the eye as they rolled around, seemingly, just as curious about us, as we are about them. Almost everyone in the boat had half their bodies hanging out of the boat with their sleeves rolled up for most of the couple hours we were out there. Everyone was eager to run their hands over the sleek, mammalian skin. I have to say I gave up on getting a really good picture after a bit because I just wanted to enjoy it and hang out with the whales as best I could, unmitigated by need to document the whole thing. I made a strategic error by sitting at the front on the boat, which road higher than the rest so my reach to touch the whales was longer than it would have been otherwise. I almost demanded that Zack Attack hold my legs whilst I dangled over the side, but controlled myself and just continued to coo at the whales puppies and stare in awe. Even their barnacles seemed beautiful to me – a vibrant yellow color that I hadn’t expected. I suspect part of the interaction with the boat is an opportunity for the whales to scratch some of the barnacles off along the bottom on the boat. They would pass under the boat and bump and rub just a touch and then pop up along the side for pets. The two hours were over before we knew it. We walked back to camp still feeling a little bit of wonder at it all.
