Whale Tales

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yak2you2
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Location: Yakutat, Ak.

Whale Tales

Post by yak2you2 »

When you look at a 747 you wouldn't think it could possibly fly, even in the air their immense size seems to defy the laws of physics by making them look as though they're not even moving. One hundred and fifty tons, just hovering there, like a giant balloon from a Tournament of Roses parade.
I always thought the same about whales. When you see them out of the water there's nothing at all about them that looks like they should be the graceful swimmers that they are. Their shape makes it seem like they should be awkwardly puttering about like a good year blimp, but the oppose is true. Almost effortlessly they slice through the water, leaping playfully, as though someone forgot to tell them how big they are. Imagine swimming from the Baja of California all the way to Barrow and back again every year? Or heading out into the open ocean for Hawaii with even the slightest hope of finding such a tiny speck of an island chain in all that water, let alone traversing it every season. They are so much more the masters of their world than we are of ours.
It is for this reason that I love trolling in the early spring more than any other fishery or time of year. The reefs I fish then are right along the whales annual migration route, and never was there a better harbinger of spring than seeing a pod of them spout as they swim by. Usually they swim with speed and purpose, in a hurry to make it to the rich feeding grounds off the north coast of Alaska, usually, but not always, sometimes they get curious. In the spring the Grey whales are bringing their yearling calves born earlier in the winter north on their very first pilgrimage to Alaska, and as it is with any species, the young are intensely curious. I had read an article recently about the Eskimos harvesting a whale for subsistence that had an old metal harpoon tip broken off inside of him that was estimated to be 100 years old, whales apparently live for a very long time. No wonder the older ones aren't all that curious about me, their annual swims North have probably taken them past every troller in the modern history of trolling, at one point in time or another.
One day as I trolled along, soaking in some very much needed rays on a sunny spring day,a curious calf swam right up behind me and decide to play follow the leader for a while as his mom watched nonchalantly from a ways off. At first I was a little concerned that mom might not like me so close to her young one and come and ram me, but it soon became obvious to me that she seemed content to let the little guy introduce himself at our leisurely pace. Slowly, he slid in closer, until he was about 10 feet behind me, and in the clear blue offshore water, we were able to get a real good look at one another. Even at so young an age, my new friend had an eye the size of my fist, and it felt a little erie to gaze into it. Like a mystic's crystal ball, his bottomless eye seemed to be peering into my soul. I thought to myself, at so young an age, this little one might swim up and visit one of my great, great, grandchildren someday after I'm long gone. Eventually I snapped out of our hypnotic staring contest, and I realized that should one of my trailing hooks accidentally snag him I'd be in for a real mess, so I slowly turned away from him. The playfulness of the youngster got the better of him though, and he wasn't going to let the game end so easily. I sped up, so did he.I turned right, so did he, the more I tried to evade him, the more fun he seemed to be having. It was starting to make me nervous as the game of follow the leader continued, and all the while mom stayed back behind watching, seemingly content to have someone else play with her kid for a while so she didn't have to. Eventually a buddy of mine who was only about a hundred yards off, wandered over to see what all the zig-zagging was about. As he got closer to me, something about the 2 boats must have finally made mom uneasy. She gently eased up beside the calf and slowly nudged him away and off they went, leaving the youngster's little toy boat exactly as they had found it, much to my relief. They say that elephants have incredible memories and it makes me wonder if maybe the larger the mammal the better the memory.... I wonder if maybe when I'm old and gray the little whale might remember me on it's way North and stop by to say hi again someday. Maybe it was a female, and maybe she'll remember the reef as a good spot to bring her young calves to play, only time will tell.
Not only are whales some of the most graceful creatures on earth, they are also some of the most gentle, which is a good thing given there size.
A few years before hand, I anchored up in a small, quiet cove in the early evening and was out on deck brushing my teeth and looking forward to watching the snow covered mountains slowly turn pink in a couple of hours. I stared up at the peaks, and watched an eagle soaring in lazy circles about a mile high. I became oblivious to all else as the quiet and solitude of the moment over took me. Suddenly, a great gushing geyser of water burst forth from the water right at my feet in a thunderous roar. I had to have jumped at least a foot into the air, choked and coughed as I swallowed my tooth paste, and had to catch myself from falling down as my knees buckled from the shock. My heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest. Slowly, as my wits returned to me, I began to take stock of what had happened. There, about 10 feet out and 10 feet below the surface was a Humpback and her calf laying perfectly still. Obviously one of them had surfaced and blown, and very nearly caused me to soil myself. I sat down to catch my breath and watched my new neighbors for a while. The mother looked to be about 40 feet long, and the calf about 15 to 20 feet. About every 10 to 15 minutes one of them would surface for air, then return to it's original position and remain motionless, seemingly oblivious to me or my boat.
I have a list of things to do or see before I die somewhere, and on it had been diving with whales for sometime. I spent a couple of winters in Hawaii when I was younger, where and I learned to dive chasing lobsters and spear fishing but that's a story for another time. Ever since I fell in love with diving, and have done quite a bit here in Alaska. I had some of my gear with me and after convincing myself that the whales were going to share the same camp ground for a while, I decide what the hell, you only live once. I put on my wetsuit, weight belt, snorkel/mask, and fins, and jumped in. What I saw was surreal. I felt like I had time warp back about 50 million years. I'd seen dead humpbacks washed up on the beach before, but their lifeless, deflated bodies looked nothing like these. In the water they seemed enormous, covered with barnacles, and jagged edges on their fins, it made it seem like they would have fit right in in the dinosaur world. The late afternoon sun was casting odd shadows and beautiful god rays danced all about in the silty, aqua green water, adding to the overall splendor of the moment.
At first I stayed a good 10 feet away and kind of under my boat, just to see how they would react to me invading their world, but they still seemed totally unconcerned about me. I went up and got a good breath, dove back down, and this time I swam the whole length of the mother about 3 feet away, dragging my fingers down her side part of the way as I went. I was amazed by the amount of barnacles there was, and I remember wondering how many more knots she could get if she was clean. Their fins were huge, the mothers must have been 12 feet long it seemed like. After another good breath I dove down deeper this time, about 25 feet or so, and I swam underneath them. This view more than any of the rest gave me an interesting insight as to just how big these creatures were. As their bodies eclipsed out the sun on my way under them, they seemed to the eye to be defying all the laws of gravity as they hovered there motionless.
I decided that it was time to let my neighbors get some rest, and climbed back onto the boat to have dinner and get some sleep myself. That night I listened to their occasional surfacings until I nodded out, quite possibly the most relaxed man on the planet at that moment in time. When I awoke at daylight they were gone, leaving only the memories of our little slumber party.
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