The Day of the Whales, 2007

Sam and I went out looking for krill yesterday to find the wildest day yet. Set in a perfectly still day with a high cloud ceiling and golden horizons, we saw almost every species of thing possible around here (unfortunately the only krill we saw was one swimming past our boat). As soon as we put the fish finder in the water we saw a school of krill, a couple seconds later a herd of crabeater seals shuttling between shore and the school. Then we heard fur seals playing on the beach amongst skuas and adelie penguins. We trolled over the school for a minute to get a feel for the size, but before we got the winch started, a pair of minke whales was spotted feeding off a near-by island, there must have been a bigger school there. Or maybe not, but we did get checked out by the minke's, who soon departed, leaving us staring blankly as our fish-finder blankly stared back. Then we saw a pair of humpback whales. They MUST be feeding on a big school. Nope, but we did get checked out by the humpies. And some gentoo penguins. So onward with our krillsearch. We found another school, and after evading a leopard seal, did a tow but only caught Thysaenoessa, gaudichaudii, and two dead krill. "How about the South Islands?" we said to each other. "Ok." But as soon as we got there, reports of multiple feeding humpbacks came from the area we just left, so we searched for a few minutes, then decided to head back. Along our way, there were two humpbacks floating at the surface...

So we killed the engine, the fish finder, and the 80's rock, picked up a paddle and slowly moved towards them. Then it seemed like we picked up speed and were getting too close, so I moved to the back of the boat to paddle in the other direction, but before I knew it, they had us surrounded. And they looked hungry...
But they were just curious...
Their awareness was incredible. The moved so slowly and elegantly, at one point they tapped the boat, but we didn't even move. They truly are gentle giants.
After what seemed like hours, they made a final wave with their big-ass pectoral fins, and swam away. Trying to brag over the radio, we found out a number of other people were having a similar experience (though not quite as cool) with 4 whales just north of us.