Whales Ahoy!

Another beautiful, calm day greeted us as we set off in search of the humpback whales.  Because of the incredible power of the currents in this area the sardines get trapped in the currents and the whales can eat them very easily.  It sounded kind of strange for the current to be able to trap fish, but when I saw it, I understood – the currents are quite extraordinary.

The major benefit is that the whales gather in the same places, so Marcelo was able to take us directly to them.  It was so exciting when we started to see spouting in the distance and one of the whales jumping out of the water!

Then we were right amongst six of them, including a very playful baby, who was testing out his body.

Going up . . .

. . . and down. All humpbacks have unique tail markings.

Baby testing out his tail . . .

. . . practising back stroke . . .

. . . slapping the water . . .

. . . twisting back in.

The baby giving the kayakers, Marcelo, Kim & Susan, a really thorough check

Practising breaching

All out effort for this fantastic jump...

Penguins fishing in the same currents

The older whales were a little more sedate

Eye spy with my little eye

Another super effort . . .

. . . with twist.

I know I have said many times on this blog about how wonderful an experience has been, but watching the baby humpback play was something else again.  Often the whales were very close to the boat, and six humpback whales is a lot!  Ben took hundreds of great shots; it was almost impossible to cull them down to what is on here.  Rodrigo and Marcelo both said how unusually active the whales were, normally they only breach two or three times.
After all the excitement both the baby whale and ourselves needed a break, so the boat headed off to visit a glacier for lunch.  Rodrigo produced another great meal as we motored through the beautiful fjords.

Urk, wave!

Oh no, too late! (Terns on an iceberg)

Marcelo, Susan and Kim among the ice bergs

Right under the glacier

The crew hoisted out some 5,000 year old glacial ice for us to have pisco on the rocks (rather like whiskey) and we motored back to the whales.  This time they were busy eating, so the engine was turned off and the boat drifted down the current, spinning and circling like a cork in a river, not a decent sized boat in the ocean.  The currents were so powerful!

Back to the dome camp, with fresh bread baked on board for an afternoon snack, then dinner and bed again.