Whale in SD Bay

poopdeckpappy · #1 03-11-2009

Got home tonight to find 2 helicopters flying overhead, didn't give it much thought cause it wasn't that unusual; Then I heard on the news we have a 30' gray inside the harbor.

We tried to go take a look with the dink but got turned back, his still here as I type, has been in the bay all afternoon from what they say, but he's almost out to the point and open water.

sailingdog · #2 03-11-2009

Good that they're getting him where he should be... sounds as if he was either lost or curious... both happen.

erps · #3 03-11-2009

We get a few whales here each spring. I see them quite a bit in Saratoga Passage and down around Everett during the spring prawn fisheries but the wife hasn't seen them yet. It will be a good excuse to take the boat down to Langley for an overnighter so she can see them too. I'm not sure why, but whales are cool to see.

Faster · #4 03-11-2009

Several years back we had 2 or 3 greys that found their way into the upper reaches of Howe Sound. We could stand on the pier at the mill where I worked then, and they passed alongside us 10 feet from the pier - quite a thrill.

The spent a few days before finding their way out, they were 25 miles inland from Georgia Strait, a long way from their normal migration path up the West Coast

imagine2frolic · #5 03-11-2009

Is his name Humphry? He like S.F. Bay, maybe he's touring southern Cal?

SOUNDBOUNDER · #6 03-11-2009

I just saw a story this morning about it on one of the cable news channels.

poopdeckpappy · #7 03-11-2009

Wayward Whale Spotted In Bay | NBC San Diego

There's a short Video to watch

What's funny is we sail out all the time to go watch them and 95% of the time we come up empty.

bubb2 · #8 03-11-2009

Thank you for your post Pappy, Whales are Cool.

A few years ago I was delivering a boat to Halifax. I was 30 or 40 miles off Cape Ann heading North. Early in the morning I looked off my port side and there was a pod of whales (6) swimming north about 100 yards off my port beam. For most of the morning we traveled together. I would ease the boat toward them and they would keep that 100 yard distance. But if I would ease the boat away from them they would come closer but always keeping that 100 yards between us.

Towards Noon that day, I guess they got tired of me and they just started swimming north a little faster then the boat and in an hour or so they were out of sight. But what a magical morning it was.

JohnRPollard · #9 03-11-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubb2

Thank you for your post Pappy, Whales are Cool.

A few years ago I was delivering a boat to Halifax. I was 30 or 40 miles off Cape Ann heading North. Early in the morning I looked off my post side and there was a pod of whales (6) swimming north about 100 off my port beam. For most of the morning we traveled together. I would ease the boat toward them and they would keep that 100 yard distance. But if I would ease the boat away from them they would come closer but always keeping that 100 yards between us.

Towards Noon that day, I guess they got tired of me and they just started swimming north a little fast then the boat and in an hour or so they were out of sight. But what a magical morning it was.

Bubb,

I've sailed with dolphins on our bow wave, but never anything like that. I hope some day to have such a magical encounter, and that my kids are there to experience it!

serah · #10 03-11-2009

I've had a handful of whale encounters - the most memorable being Labour Day weekend of about 1997. We were sailing across the Straight, perhaps 10 nm off Gabriola pass. A pod of about 30 orcas, including about 10 calves came right alongside and stayed with us for about 45 minutes. I have a distinct memory of standing on the foredeck, looking down on a cow with her calf. There were a number of times I could have reached out and touched their fins when they surfaced. Absolutely surreal.