I have encountered whales many times from my sail boat in the Bay of fundy.
Most times I am looking for them but sometimes they just show up. We have
sailed beside a mother Right Whale and calf and witnessed (from a distance)
a male Right whale going through his mating ritual. We have had a Humpback
come up under our boat and give us a shower when he blew. That was nerve
wracking. I have seen many Fin Backs and most recently had a pair of Hump
Backs surface right beside our boat in an anchorage near the island of
Esprito Santo in the Sea of Cortez. When watching whales the main purpose
is to not get too close to interfere with them. I find a lot of whale
watching boats crowd the whales too much in an attempt to give their guests
the altimate experince but with the number of boats competing for
passenegrs, they seem to forget the ultimate purpose of the trip. Most
boats will stay back and wit their turn but I have seen as many as ten boats
trying to get close to one whale. Yes they do have their own VHF channel and
give locations by minutes of a degree.


"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Has anybody done this in a sailboat? I'm wondering things like
whether public sighting reports are available, probability of seeing
anything, etc.


It was 3AM. I'm alone on the midwatch about 90 miles off the Georgia
coast headed North to Charleston in an Endeavour 35 behind the helm about
half asleep on a nice broad reach with a steady breeze and 4'
seas.....staring at the blank Raymarine display.

The usual slapping of the waves against the hull and wind in the rigging
is suddenly, unexpectedly, broached by this huge air venting out in the
pitch black, inky darkness straight out to starboard. This is followed
by a HUGE splash in the dark that sounds like a fast attack submarine
doing an emergency blow and jumping out of the water at full ahead.....at
least it did sitting there alone just off the waves lapping at the stern
right behind me.

Larry had NO trouble staying awake until past dawn, his watch long over
as he let Lloyd, the only other sailor aboard, sleep in the v-
berth....his system supercharged with pure adrenalyn surging through his
arteries. Even my toes tingled.

It must have been one of your buddies headed for the P-town
tourboats....far away.

Larry
--
Too many Mexicans ahead of you in line? Sneak around behind a rack and
yell, "ICE Immigration! Everyone stand where you are!"

Just drive your cart past the unattended carts to the checkout belt....
(c;

"...(from a distance) a male Right whale going through his mating ritual. "

Did the whale have a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and a gold
chain around its neck?
What did Mr Stud Whale say? "Yo,, baby fish breath.. what is your sign?

================================================== ======



"Silver K" wrote in message
...
I have encountered whales many times from my sail boat in the Bay of fundy.
Most times I am looking for them but sometimes they just show up. We have
sailed beside a mother Right Whale and calf and witnessed (from a distance)
a male Right whale going through his mating ritual. We have had a Humpback
come up under our boat and give us a shower when he blew. That was nerve
wracking. I have seen many Fin Backs and most recently had a pair of Hump
Backs surface right beside our boat in an anchorage near the island of
Esprito Santo in the Sea of Cortez. When watching whales the main purpose
is to not get too close to interfere with them. I find a lot of whale
watching boats crowd the whales too much in an attempt to give their guests
the altimate experince but with the number of boats competing for
passenegrs, they seem to forget the ultimate purpose of the trip. Most
boats will stay back and wit their turn but I have seen as many as ten
boats trying to get close to one whale. Yes they do have their own VHF
channel and give locations by minutes of a degree.


"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Has anybody done this in a sailboat? I'm wondering things like
whether public sighting reports are available, probability of seeing
anything, etc.


It was 3AM. I'm alone on the midwatch about 90 miles off the Georgia
coast headed North to Charleston in an Endeavour 35 behind the helm about
half asleep on a nice broad reach with a steady breeze and 4'
seas.....staring at the blank Raymarine display.

The usual slapping of the waves against the hull and wind in the rigging
is suddenly, unexpectedly, broached by this huge air venting out in the
pitch black, inky darkness straight out to starboard. This is followed
by a HUGE splash in the dark that sounds like a fast attack submarine
doing an emergency blow and jumping out of the water at full ahead.....at
least it did sitting there alone just off the waves lapping at the stern
right behind me.

Larry had NO trouble staying awake until past dawn, his watch long over
as he let Lloyd, the only other sailor aboard, sleep in the v-
berth....his system supercharged with pure adrenalyn surging through his
arteries. Even my toes tingled.

It must have been one of your buddies headed for the P-town
tourboats....far away.

Larry
--
Too many Mexicans ahead of you in line? Sneak around behind a rack and
yell, "ICE Immigration! Everyone stand where you are!"

Just drive your cart past the unattended carts to the checkout belt....
(c;

"Silver K" wrote in news:UHTHh.7893
:

We have had a Humpback
come up under our boat and give us a shower when he blew.

In SC waters, though less spectacular, the Bottlenosed Dolphin is the big
clown around the boat. One little guy did 5 perfect barrel rolls, out of
the water, 8' from the starboard beam. Everyone aboard was most
impressed. They just love to play with sailboats. One of the guys tied
his harness to the bow spirit and they loved it. They were jumping out
of the water as he threw out some old cookies that had lived past their
prime. Don't tell me they don't communicate. The whole pod was
determined to get a cookie for everyone. Their timing was fantastic.
They'd come at the bow from 90 degrees out and jump over my friend at
just the right time to snatch the cookie. It went on until we ran out of
cookies.

It's almost as if they're bored to death swimming around out there and a
sailboat provides great entertainment. Bottlenoses aren't interested in
providing "natural experience", they want you to entertain them. When I
owned the Sea Rayder jetboat and fooled with it in the harbor the lack of
a spinning, threatening prop seemed, also, to provoke them into staying
around the jetboat....every time you were at hull speed.

Larry
--
How much price inflation is caused by illegal
aliens gobbling up goods and services, creating
shortages for the natives? I heard 40%!

On Thu, 08 Mar 2007 09:16:39 -0500, Larry wrote:

In SC waters, though less spectacular, the Bottlenosed Dolphin is the big
clown around the boat. One little guy did 5 perfect barrel rolls, out of
the water, 8' from the starboard beam. Everyone aboard was most
impressed. They just love to play with sailboats.

And trawlers:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OgD0t1NidF4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TxHhfr3buOw

We sometimes get 5 or 6 at a time playing in the wake.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

We sometimes get 5 or 6 at a time playing in the wake.


I can tell the wildlife is just terrified of your presence...(c;

We don't make much of a wake with Lionheart....more like a little ripple
with us sitting in the trough of it...(c;


Larry
--
How much price inflation is caused by illegal
aliens gobbling up goods and services, creating
shortages for the natives? I heard 40%!

On Thu, 08 Mar 2007 22:03:45 -0500, Larry wrote:

We sometimes get 5 or 6 at a time playing in the wake.


I can tell the wildlife is just terrified of your presence...(c;

There is something about the GB49 that is a bit of a dolphin magnet.
Since there are lots of boats around here that leave big wakes, it
must be the roar of the 671s or those big 30 inch props churning up
the water.