Boca de Soledad
Today we parked in the Hood Canal just north of the town of San Carlos for some whale watching. In the afternoon I went for a ride on the zodiac to see what they are all about and when we first headed out into the boca de soledad there was absolutley nothing going on, no whales at all, so we actually started to head back to the ship. About two minutes into our return we got a call on the radio that another group had found a couple of whales that were willing to play, so we b-lined over to their position near a beached fishing boat. Once we got there, sure enough, I ended up getting to see a playful mom and her calf up close and personal. I guess the trick is that you get the boat up as close as you can to their position, then when you see them look at you, then you splash and tell them you want to touch them. We were circling and playing for 20 minutes or so when the leader told us we would need to head back, but no one had been able to actually touch these whales yet. Not in our boat or the others in our group. About 2 minutes after that the mom swam RIGHT under our boat and then the calf stuck his head out right next to me. I splashed the water at it then I actually ended up touching the calf! Whales feel absolutely nothing like the look, to be honest with you I had no idea what to expect. Their “skin” is like velvet almost, very soft and not overly smooth. After that the trip was over, so we headed back to the boat, then back to work like nothing had happened. I’m still buzzing off of the high I got off of that.
All things have been pretty mellow on the boat today, I made a dessert called Tres Leches that is a cake that is soaked in a cream sauce and then topped with whipped cream. Pretty good stuff, so good in fact that I really need to watch what I’m doing, because this stuff is adding to my gut in a serious way now. That combined with the lack of real excersize that I get here is not such a great thing for my body. I hope to continue my post dinner work out tonite, I felt quite a bit better this morning thanks to last nights. Most of the crew is going to San Carlos about a 1/2 hour boat ride from our current position for an appreciation night type of deal, it’s a reward for the crew that will be ending their 8 week stint here on Saturday. I’m not going to head out, because it will probably be way too much fun for me, plus I will have a chance to explore around town on Saturday when everyone is either coming or going.
It’s gotten a little cloudy out and being on this side of baja is quite a bit cooler. It’s not quite shorts and sandals weather any more, but it still is much different than snowing and raining.
