jps wrote:
On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:54:41 -0800, Jim wrote:

jps wrote:
On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:09:27 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:51:30 -0800, Jim wrote:

Went out yesterday to watch the whales feeding. I was told about this a
couple of days ago but didn't go until yesterday.

It was amazing. I've seen lots of whales, but never like this. They
are usually migrating, not feeding like these were.

There were a million sea birds, so many krill the sea turned silver.
The ocean sounded like it was carbonated. Then there were groups of
whales spouting as they cruised the surface feeding. No spectacular
diving with the flukes following it under, they just rolled on their
sides and ate their fill. My fish finder showed the sea to be a solid
mass of fish, hundreds of feet deep.

I've never seen so much sea life in one spot. There were several of
these spots, by the way. You could see that the whales were herding the
krill into the center of a big circle, a couple of miles across.

Must have looked like a scene out of whaling 150 years ago. You could
almost imagine the mast head lookout on a whaling ship seeing exactly
the same scene.

I've seen many whales, but they are usually cruising along, never like this.

Not my video, mine has to be edited, and there's a lot to edit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YtC-VagE4Y
Whales. Heavy duty. Like looking at the Grand Canyon.
Hard to comprehend what you're seeing.
Like flying into Vegas looking at the hotels out the window. You
haven't a clue as to their scale until you're on the street.

100 ft and how many tons? Holy crap.
It's easy to imagine their size when they surface right next to your
boat. I was getting a bit uneasy after see them busy feeding and not
necessarily watching out for me.

Talk about bad breath! And a lot of it.

Is there a law about proximity? Up here if you're caught getting
close the fines are meaningful.

What sort of bad breath? Anything to compare it to?

It's awesome that you had the opportunity. I know the feeling of
looking down into the water and seeing a big ship's propeller through
the haze. It's other worldly. Seeing animals that size must be
willies inducing.

There is a law about proximity, but the whale wasn't observing it.

Interestingly the boat that went right through the middle, between
whales, was a police boat.

Fish breath. Compared to a lot of dead fish, I'd guess.