A Whale of a Tale

An amazing story about a couple of humpbacks and a fishing boat. After a close encounter in the waters 400 miles north of Honolulu, two whales apparently took a liking to the boat and its crew. The whales followed the boat all the way back to port, right up to the dock. They hung around for a day giving the city a show inside the harbor before leaving.

The morning after the whales appeared, Captain Winn had to remove pieces of rope and net that were entangled in his propeller. He put on his fins, snorkel and mask, entered the water, and started removing the ropes and net. Shortly after starting, he was surprised and startled when the female whale swam up, within three feet of him, and made eye contact.

Story and video here:
carrollcox.com...

www.staradvertiser.com...

Nice refreshing story about our brothers in the sea Phage.

At least we know it's not a lens flair this time....

Des

reply to post by Phage

A wonderful story and imo a testament to the sentience these creatures harbor. Upon doing some research, I ran across this whale story written in 1850 and published in the Honolulu Friend.

In 1850, the final years of 'Yankee whaling', the Captain of a whaling vessel wrote an article entitled 'A Polar Whale's Appeal'. This article, which is a first person narrative spoken by a Bowhead Whale, is a plea on behalf of the 'Whale Nation' to put an end to the killing of his species. It was published in 'The Honolulu Friend' on October 15, 1850. We came across this article in the archives of the New Bedford whaling museum, Massachusetts while conducting research for the establishment of The Oceania Project in 1986.

Glorious vid with Carlos Nakai ,Native American flutist.

Truly awed by this story and video, really sad that these beautiful creatures get hunted and slaughtered daily.
To the OP thanks for sharing this wonderful news and clip.
Regards, Iwinder

Thank you Phage.

I enjoyed this story and video. I like to watch NatGeo and other shows that present these amazing creatures. My husband has promised me a trip to Alaska for our 30th aniversary. Only 7 years to go.

Hope their still around.

reply to post by Phage


Fascinating ( just to quote a certain logical fictional character... )...

Have been some increased activity, and sightings, off the coast of Southern California as well.....not to the unique aspect as in Honolulu, but certainly good to see the migrations, and the numbers indicating a rebound.

Orcas too, which apparently are rare around here.

www.danawharf.com...

Whale sightings since November 2011
(Gray Whale Season):
61 Gray Whales, 24 Killer Whales, 3 Minke Whales, 3 Humpback Whales, 8 Blue Whales, 81 Fin Whales

And:

Rare sighting of killer whales off SoCal coastline


On a side note....an Alaskan cruise some years ago, were lucky to be treated to humpbacks feeding, and putting on displays, just several dozens of yards from the ship.....an awesome sight to experience.

reply to post by Phage




That's pretty awesome, brother. Had to do some sneaky maneuvering at work to bi pass the video blocks, just to see it.
I don't know much about whale behavior, but they were acting like dolphins swimming and leaping beside the boat. haha. Is that typical from Humpbacks?

Awesome stuff.

Hey Momma! Look what followed me home!

Can I keep em? Huh? Pleeease!

reply to post by Phage


I love those moments when there is no separation between man and nature.

Thanks for the post!

Made me smile, and think to myself what a wonderful world in which we live.

Wish that feeling would last longer than it does!

I would follow a boat to Hawaii too.