Whale, It’s Nate’s Birthday!

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That intoxicating, just-fell-in-the-garbage-smell is right within reach if you go on a whale-watching tour with Nate on his birthday. It means that a whale has chosen you for a special treat. An adorable humpback whale named “Two-Spot” spewed water through his blowhole onto the people standing out on deck, and when the people outside came inside the cabin of the boat, a distinct odor followed them—and no one minded at all. If this moment were done as a cartoon, you’d probably see a yellow cloud of funk hanging over them. Nate was fortunate to be in that mix. I got a look at the whale later on, but I did not get sprayed, but it wasn’t my birthday, so I understand.

Of course, we were hoping to see orcas, but we did not see any. Not one. Many children screamed that they could see orcas right outside their windows, but they were lying. Still, the one humpback whale we saw was amazing. We witnessed the whole whale, up close because apparently, it likes this particular boat/whale-watching tour, which is run by naturalists who keep their distance and turn off the motor when they see whales. When they leave, they do not run the motor until the whale is well out of sight. Two-Spot, the humpback whale, likes this method and comes right up to the boat to inspect the people inside and spray them. The tour-boat people think he may like the screaming sound that results.

Of course, I wanted to take pictures, but it’s hard when you keep putting your finger on the lens in all the excitement. I did my best to edit my fingers out of one of the pictures here, but Nate took the best one, which is the feature image for this blog.

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Pro-tip: Getting spewed on by a whale is the best way to get a good picture.

In any case, Nate had an awesome birthday, and Two-Spot the humpback whale, was the icing on the cake—and the one blowing out the candles in spectacular style—waving his flippers as if to say, “Whale, hello, there. Happy birthday!”

Your Turn: What’s your favorite animal to spot in the wild?

Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

24 thoughts on “Whale, It’s Nate’s Birthday!”

  4. For me it’s spotting anchovies. I like the challenge of it. Although spending hours hanging over the rail with a powerful pair of binoculars invariably makes me feel seasick, so I’m thinking of switching to freshwater snail darters.
    Great photos of that friendly humpback, very cool!

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  10. Happy birthday to Nate! I don’t really do a lot ‘in the wild’, but I once saw a fox – or rather, it came to see us – during a picnic out by a river. It came over, sniffed around, looked at the noisy humans (lots of children) and then left. It was adorable, to be honest!

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