Saturday, March 27, 2010

Whale Watching

So, yesterday Janice and I got to whale-watch, sort of, off Point Depoe, through the new binoculars she bought. Here's the little poem I made out of the experience:

I saw a whale
exhale
No flukes, no breech,
no sleek black back
Just a puff of breath
Twelve feet high
Three miles away.

They said at the whale-watching center that it'd been a good day: fifty-eight sightings. But there's not much to be seen from shore when the whales swim by three to five miles off. We'll have to try the whale-watching-from-a-boat thing in Gray's Harbor again if we can this spring
--JDR

just finished: A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN by Anthony Burke & Jn Rendall [1971 & 2009]
just began: THE PTEROSAURS FROM DEEP TIME by David M. Unwin (no relation) [2006]

UPDATE (Sunday March 28th):
After we got back and I had a chance to go online and check out the local news, I found out why we didn't see much at Depoe Bay -- the whales had come up to Elliott Bay instead!

At least one of them had. A good-sized grey whale rounded West Seattle on Saturday, spending several hours in fairly shallow off Alki Beach (to the delight of locals enjoying a day outside) before moving on to near the mouth of the Duwamish -- which further upstream is the same Green River that flows near (say half a mile from) our place. It was last seen last night near Salty's, where we go on special occasions for Seattle's best brunch with Wolf & Shelly and/or Jeff & Kate.

I imagine this is a young whale taking a break on its migration north. Finding a nice quiet bay, it slipped in and poked around a bit hoping to find some nom. There are some shrimp in the Sound, but not a lot I think, so I doubt he'll stay long. Still, an exciting event for all whale-lovers in the area, esp. those fortunate enough to see it for themselves.

Here's a link to the news story and a photo or two of the whale himself:


--JDR




at

2 comments:

  1. David BratmanMarch 28, 2010 at 7:15 AM

    Depoe Bay! Did I forget to tell you that that's where the used bookstore with all the cats was, at least when I last drove that road, years ago?

    ReplyDelete
  2. John D. RateliffMarch 28, 2010 at 9:04 PM

    Hi David:
    If you did, I forgot about it. Too bad. I did notice signs for two or three bookstores on the main road (Hwy 101) as we drove through town, but we didn't stop at any of them. Here's hoping it and the cats are still there and thriving.
    Which is more than can be said for Hobbiton USA (but more on that in my next post)
    --JDR

    ReplyDelete