BLUE WHALE AND FEEDING HUMPBACK
The sight of the blue whale's blow etches stuck on the retina for a long time. The world's biggest animal exhales with a pressure which best can be compared with that from a fire hose. A blue whale encounter is a life-time experience and something you remember with great amazement for a loooong time.
We left harbour and the weather only got better and better after yesterday's storm. The sun was shining and on our way north we found a feeding humpback whale. It came frequently straight up from the depth with its open mouth full of water and the ventral grooves stretched. As soon as it reached the surface, it clapped its jaws together and pushed the water out through the baleens, sieving the food from water.
After drifting around in the middle of the humpback's feeding area we turned west towards the mountains, in hope of finding another whale. At first it seemed quite empty of life, until we spotted a big group of birds flocking together on/above the surface. They are searching for food, and so do the whales.
Soon we spotted two blows; one smaller and round – clearly a big whale, but compared to the second blow it looked small. When the other whale exhaled, captain Kúti and I looked at each other and knew straight away what we had in front of us - a blue...
The blow from a blue whale is actually a pole of millions of water drops which stands for itself like a white mast a long time after the animal has disappeared back down under the surface. This is a day at work for me and an incredible experience for all of us on board.
Lia
A blue whale was encountered on the 13:15 by Gentle Giants today.
Photo: guide Sarah Arndt
