Moby Dick

I sat this afternoon sharing a cappuccino and having a wonderful conversation with Roddy, our English naturalist who had lived 22 years in South Africa and now lives near Oxford University.  Makes me sound pretty sophisticated, right?  We hadn’t quite solved all of the world’s problem, but it was a fascinating conversation.  I felt privileged to have some exclusive time with him.

In mid-conversation, an announcement came from the bridge that sperm whales had been spotted off the bow. Forgetting the world’s problems, we headed on deck.

In the distance, we could see spouts here and there.  The ship slowly followed.  At one point there were maybe three or four whales visible.  You could see them blow, catch sight of a pectoral fin, and we once saw the flukes rise as a whale dived.

Random fact:  Baleen whales, like the right whale, have two blowholes, so you see two spouts.  Toothed whales have a single blowhole.  So the single spout was part of how we identified these as sperm whales.

The whales would disappear.  The ship would slowly drift.  Then someone would spot a whale blowing off one side of the ship.  The ship would again slowly follow. As we got within about 50 yards, we were down to 2 whales; a mother and calf.  Finally, they dove and we thought we were done.

We lingered a while longer just in case, and the two were spotted again, just lolling on the surface, almost inviting us to creep closer.  So we did.

A few days ago, we were told that hunting sperm whales in the small wooden whaling boats in the 19th century was as close to a fair fight as there was in whaling.  In approaching, I could imagine what it might have been like to be a hunter in those boats.  Chilling….and thrilling.  I was just as happy we were in a ship about 10 times the size of those old boats.

There were times the mother was barely moving and riding so high in the water that it was visible from in front of the blow hole to behind the dorsal fin.  By this time, the whales had allowed us within about 15 yards. They were right off the bow.  I’ve never had anything drive home just how enormous these creatures are.  Finally, with two more flashes of their flukes, the whales went on their way, and we did as well.

I hope I get to continue my conversation with Roddy.

P.S. No photos of the whales, but I got some video.  If I stick to my normal production schedule, it should be available in early 2018.