[Paddlewise] Whales

----------- Original Message -----------

From: tombrooklyn_at_yahoo.com
Date:  Sun, 22 Oct 2000 10:45:40 -0700 (PDT)

Re:

From: "Rev. Bob Carter" Subject: a whale
of a day:

> ...they (Humpback Whales) surface just behing us...
about 40 yards from us.  Then ...passing about 20 yards in front of 
us... only three boat lengths in front of me...this whale was 
checking us out!... Then the whale... began to swim towards us...the
whale got about one boat length away...<

and Tom Replied:

>>It strikes me as quite risky to be paddling amongst
whales.  Equivilent perhaps to diving amongst sharks.
Would this be a fair comparison?  I know next to
nothing about whale behavior.

Tom Dowling<<

Hi Tom,

I paddle with Gray Whales almost every day, and I've also paddled 
with Orcas on several occasions, and once with a Blue Whale.  All of 
my encounters have been safe and lovely experiences.  

[small disclaimer:  I'm not a marine biologist or any sort of "whale 
expert" - I just paddle with them every day]...

Whales, when not being attacked, are curious, friendly, and very 
gentle - even playful.  I also think that they're very intelligent. 

I know the Gray Whales the best, as there are eight residents here in 
my local waters, and we've become good friends in the last few years. 
 All of them will spend hours at a time with me (individually and/or 
as a group), and some will even allow me to scratch their beaks.  I 
tap a little "signature" rhythm on my deck, and they will often come 
say "hello" when they hear me.

I'll sometimes capsize when one approaches (so that I can 
see/experience the whole whale underwater), and it will come right up 
to me and allow me to touch it.  I've even gotten out of my boat and 
swam with them.  Really quite wonderful.  One of them likes to gently 
push the bow of by boat around in circles.  Each has it's particular 
personality, and patterns of "social behavior".

Even the local mother whales will trust me to "babysit" their young 
ones when they're off eating.  I'll sometimes spend hours paddling 
slowly alongside a baby, and later, it's mother will come back, and 
they'll swim off together.

I've also paddled with many of the migrating whales as they go up and 
down the coast each spring and fall, and they too are curious, 
friendly, and gentle.

Whales are really quite different than sharks.  Even sharks don't 
particularly consider us a delicacy (especially with all our stinky 
neoprene), but with their "always on" appetite and their extreme 
predatory nature, we sometimes, as David Whyte might say,"find 
ourselves in a spot of bother".  Even so, in most cases, they take 
one little nibble and decide we're not so tasty after all.

The largest of the whales have baleen rather than teeth, and eat 
krill and plankton.  Orcas have teeth, and are fierce hunters, but 
even they don't find us particularly tasty - and will opt for salmon 
or seals.

So Tom - I encourage you to seek out some of these magnificent 
creatures and paddle with them.  I think you'll be very pleasantly 
surprised.

Melissa











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