I'm one of those who doesn't use the word awesome lightly. I save it up for experiences like the one my little family and 50 others had on the Stubbs Island Whale Watching tour off of Telegraph Cove on Friday July 20.
Daryl and I had taken this tour in 1991 and I've been wanting to take my kids -- although Disneyland or Hawaii would be nice, in many ways I'd rather spend the money giving them experiences like this!
After several idyllic days camping (and kayaking -- even Miles -- but that's another story) on Quadra Island, we drove in torrential rain up Vancouver Island to Telegraph Cove, a well-preserved coastal hamlet that serves as a tourist base for kayaking, whale watching, and fishing.
Sprung to stay in a suite in a nice old house since it was still raining buckets and our camping gear was soaked from the previous night. Saw the folks coming off the afternoon whale watching tour and asked, "See any whales?"
A glum guy said, "Couple of humpbacks." You could tell he was disappointed at not seeing orcas.
I tried to shut down the rational materialistic side of my brain that said "pay hundreds of dollars to go see killer whales and we might not see them." Was already feeling slightly foolish for dragging us so far out of our way in the rain. But the kids loved the quaint village and funky digs in the heritage house (as did we all), we had a great seafood dinner, and went to sleep with tempered but optimistic hopes.
Upon boarding (with shipmates from Holland, France, Germany, US -- this was when it became more apparent to our kids that this was something pretty special), the captain and the naturalist emphasized the holistic approach to our cruise: it's great just to be out on the water, you'll see lots of natural beauty, and the whales, if we see them, are a bonus.
Pretty soon after launching we pulled up and stopped in the midst of a bunch of bald eagles. We see these a lot at home but most of the folks don't! And they are still magnificent to behold, especially in a west coast setting of cedars and rocks and water.
Then we pulled up near some seal rocks and enjoyed watching them slither into the water. Again a magnificent sight. We'd been lucky enough to see some a few days prior while kayaking too. It is such a joy to let routine slide away and just commune with these creatures out on the sea.
Soon after we saw the spray of humpbacks and spent quite some time revelling in the company of Houdini and her baby Ariel. This mother is leading a resettlement scheme for humpbacks in this area in the past decade -- a real environmental success story -- three babies in three years and seven in all! Very neat to see them spouting and their tails in the air.
Each of these successive experiences really could be said to be "enough" in terms of a way-cool wilderness excursion.
But then... the captain said, "If we want to see the orcas we'd better move along." They had mentioned earlier that they had been sighted that morning so we were all hoping!
Cruised along for awhile until we were adjacent to Malcolm Island. I was chatting about the history of saving the habitat (which I've been following for a couple of decades) with the naturalist while she kept her eyes peeled for the orcas.
And then she saw them in the distance and pointed them out. And they were magnificent from far away. We had been briefed that all boats should keep a respectful distance and that's where we expected to be viewing them from. Then she started to count, four orcas, no, eight, and let us know that this was quite a treat.
And then... they started swimming right at us. "This is not how it's supposed to happen!" she said, but then we all just surrendered to the majesty as eight or so orcas swam directly at us and surrounded the boat, swimming within meters on either side and UNDER it!
Even the naturalist experienced shock and awe. "Oh my god" was the phrase of choice among us all (Molly overhead the Frenchwomen saying "c'est pas vrai!") and I think most of us were on the brink of tears of joy, just for the unexpected experience of such a close communion.
"You realize you'll all have to pay more now," the naturalist joked, another way of letting us know that this was no ordinary whale watching! A Swiss whale devotee who's been on 300 expeditions said this was one of his best ever!
We then followed the whales at a respectful distance back in the direction we'd come from, and saw them do a similar swim-by of a lone fisherman in a tiny boat!
Our naturalist said that they were in a semi-sleeping state so they weren't vocalizing. This was a meeting of family groupings and we saw 26 orcas in all.
I was overwhelmed with positivity at having communed so closely with these beings. Molly had been right at the pointy front of the boat (the bow?) so got the full-on experience. Emma was with me standing up so got a great view and was in enthusiastic agreement when the naturalist suggested this was pretty cool. I think both girls truly had a transcendent experience. Miles was in Daryl's arms at the back and while enjoying the view got momentarily scared when they swam right by us. He took in a lot, remembering after that the baby humpback was named Ariel like his friend!
(Later, however, he got bored and wanted a story read to him while dozens of orcas continued to swim outside the boat window! Four-year-olds!)
We had an eco-talk on the boat about the PCB-levels found in whales and how we've got to get a handle on pollution, and were invited to adopt a whale.
As we drove south in the rain after I drowsily half-napped and let the magnificent whales seep into my consciousness again, enjoying the recent memory that will fade when the demands of the everyday world encroach again!
