Nothing perks me up at sea quite like seeing a marine mammal. That sounds so ridiculously corny but, I just don't know how else to explain it! A dolphin, whale, seal, or otter can make me feel down right euphoric and giddy. Often times, if I have a large enough heads up that there is wild life in my general vicinity I'll run for my camera. Sometimes they're too far off, sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate and on rare occasions sometimes I keep the event simple and just enjoy my sighting.

Coming into California a few days ago I spotted some whale spouts nearby. I quickly switched camera lenses and hoped a whale would make an appearance.

I tried to get a few shots but missed every time. In the meantime the Captain joined me in my whale watching.

There was a large spout and then the Captain realized this whale was going to stick around and yelled out, 'Haul Ass to the Port Side!!!!!!!!'. So I did.

I literally ran with my camera as fast as I could to the Port Bridge Wing.

The Captain was quick on my heels and there he was. A pale blue outline against the deeper blue of the ocean.

My camera was up - focused and ready to snap away - when our lovely whale friend decided to make his presence known.

First his head came up - a sharper pointer nose - then he slowly arched giving us a good look at his blow hole and finally his sleek back and dorsal fin.

After taking a good look at the photos we identified it as a Fin Whale. Fin's are the second largest whale (the first being a Blue Whale) - and man, it was easy to tell our whale friend was a behemoth! So long!

Clearly, I can't only post these photos - I took 19 photos before he disappeared from sight. Enjoy the full experience!

I was treated to a lovely sight a few days ago. Standing a routine bridge watch I saw signs of a whale up ahead. Of course I ran to get Big Bertha. Now, I must admit that Big Bertha is fairly well accessorized however; knowing that she was going to be taking a trip that required more work clothes than normal she opted to leave her chunkier jewels at home (meaning, I left her big lens behind and brought one for daily use). I think Big Bertha is missing her chunky gems - especially when she sees a whale up ahead!

I waited patiently on the bridge wing for the whale to pass by. This kind whale waited on the surface for me the entire time I was approaching and then, flipped up its tail in a friendly little wave.

And now for the rest of the story: when I say 'that I saw signs of a whale up ahead' what I mean is that I saw 'em blow. I struggled with exactly how to write this out....so of course I turned to google and got me some learnin'. If you'd like to read about Blowhole's try this from Wikipedia. I'm not exactly sure that I knew that it was only air coming out....I think I thought there might have been some water involved. Then I saw a link involving whales and rainbows. Whales and rainbows? Yes please! Sadly, my web filter did not condone video feeds but, this sounds delightful and I think you should watch it and tell me about it: Whale shoots rainbow out of blowhole.

I See At Sea :: A Fin Whale!

A Whale Tale