Humpback Whales

Yesterday we went out in the boat to fish for halibut. But after we got out there and got our hooks in the water, we kept seeing whales off in the distance - a lot of them. The curiousity got to be more than we could resist so we pulled our gear in and went over to investigate. We thought that they might be Orcas (killer whales) because there were so many and they travel in families. The other whale it could have been was Humpback whales, but they usually travel alone, with only two or three joining together for an afternoon. So we went to see, hoping they were the Orcas. They ended up being Humpbacks, which was just as enjoyable to watch this day since this was a group of three that had joined together to feed. They were staying right on the surface, and you could see the turbulant water they were creating. We sat and watched them for awhile, and a few times they got a little close!! We would be watching and they would go under. We could see the water boiling from them, but we couldn't quite tell where they were. It would get real eerie because we are just a little 20 foot boat next to the giant of the sea at 2-3 times our size. If one decided to come up under us we would have been swimming! So right when we would get to the point of losing our nerve, they would pop up. Sometimes they would be a comfortable distance away, and other times they were too close for comfort!! I have one picture where you can see it's eye looking at us! I think that they were curious about us because those times that they were real close, we could see them looking at us. I think they were coming up close to check us out. Then they would slowly go back under and come up "over there." We sat for awhile, backing out of the way when we needed to, and then we decided that we didn't want to flirt with danger any longer so we left. But I went away with some cool pictures. I hope you get a small taste of when we were able to enjoy. I don't think you can ever take too many pictures of whales!

Here is a view that looks like a submarine going through the water..........

This one looks a little the Lochness Monster.........
In this picture you can see it's eye. You can also see the
small, round bumps on the front of the head called knobs or tubercles.
I am not sure why they are there or if they serve a purpose, but
they sure look wierd!! If your computer will let you,
click on the picture for a closer look........
Here are two of them swimming side by side........
They got their name because of the arch it makes
as it is getting ready to dive. Usually when they dive they stay
down for several minutes. But this time they would resurface
right away. ........
What would whale photography be without a tail shot?!
That is Sitka in the background......

And another view of the tail........