Whale Viewing

Without a doubt, whale viewing on the return trip to the mainland was the most memorable. We saw Humpback Whale and Killer Whales. There are only 20,000 Humpbacks left in the world so we were lucky to spot the three we observed. One was quite large. The captain moved the boat downwind from the whales and we smelled the most horrible smell...like a sewer or something. The captain said Humpback Whale have a terrible bad breath. That was good news. I thought it was the guy standing next to me.

The Killer Whale in the picture is a young female whale. Males have a straight dorsal fin that is about 6 feet tall. Killer Whales can live to be about 80 years old. Killer Whale have the best body size to brain size ratio of any mammal including humans. They are very smart. They prey on Humpback Whales. Even though they were in the same neighborhood as the Humpbacks, there was no threat today. Viewing these large animals up close was a thrill for me.