Off to the sea...
January 21 2001 fell within the peak whale watching season as the gray
whales migrated from Alaska to Baja California. That was the day we picked
to go on a 3-hour whale watching cruise into the Pacific Ocean. Mother
Nature was on our side that day—she enhanced the viewing experience by
offering cloudless skies and quiet seas, allowing us to see close to a
dozen whales on our outing.
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Sky, wind, and water come together as we head out to sea. Sailboats
tack in the breeze, pelicans and gulls glide over the water's surface; sea
lions waddle up on the buoys to sun themselves. The boat gently rocks as
we clear the harbor, and we look back at the hooked finger of land
protecting the harbor passage: Point Loma. This point, with its two
lighthouses, is the southwestern-most corner of the continental United
States. Our boat heads south toward Mexican waters to intercept the
migratory highway taking the whales to the warm coves of Baja
California. |
| Cherie whips out the binoculars before we even clear
the harbor. Here she is checking out one of the aircraft carriers,
the Constellation, docked at North Island Naval Air Station
(actually, I think she was checking out the young sailors in their
uniforms). Point Loma's hillside houses are behind her. As we
throttled through the harbor, the captain pointed out the U.S. Naval
presence, from the submarines floating in their berths, to the flag
ship of the Pacific Fleet, to the oiler with its hoses suspended in
mid-air, to the Navy's only marine animal training and development
facility (watch out, Flipper!). |
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A trawler returns from a fishing expedition. The gulls are attracted
like bees to honey. On our boat, they ate out of the hands of passengers
brave (or silly) enough to hold bread crumbs in their palms. I wasn't
worried—my hair is already white, if you catch my drift. |
| The whales were the icing on the cake. The cake: the beautiful blue
skies and calm ocean waters on a flawless January day. Though the
photographer was inept at capturing the leviathans on film, we were
entertained by the whales blowing spouts of water into the air, arching
their tails prior to taking their food-foraging dives, and two even
swimming close enough to allow us a good look at their gray and white
mottled backs. And we were not just treated to the whale migration -- we
were also entertained by the sea lions sunning themselves on the bouys and
the porpoises surfing in the boat's wake, or zooming by us like torpedos.
The oceanographer on board pointed out many porpoises frolicking with the
whales, something he'd not seen before. |
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Sal, my friend from the Army War College, joined us for the tour. Here
he poses by the boat. |
| Returning to the harbor, the San Diego skyline is the
backdrop for a leisurely sail. If you look through the haze, you can pick
out the mountains that rise from the city's eastern front. |
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