Tall plumes of vapor emanating from the sea appeared connected to long mottled bodies as we moved closer to several large whales. We quickly identified these animals as blue whales, the largest creatures on our planet. We found spouts all around the north end of San Jose Channel and by the end of the morning's observations estimated that we had been among some twenty (20) blue whales.
The sheer number of these endangered creatures present was astounding, yet we observed fascinating behaviors as well. One blue whale began racing along and lunging sideways across the water exposing more than half the width of its body. Moments later, another blue whale shot completely out of the water dragging only its tail in the water. A breaching blue whale!!
"[Blue whale] Adults rarely, if ever, breach clear of the water…"
- Eyewitness Handbooks' "Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises"
The blue breach was followed by a lunge by this animal as it continued in the direction of the first acrobatic whale. And then another full breach by this enormous blue whale! Our guests, as well as experienced staff and officers with years of sea time, were shocked by this rarely observed behavior.
Still in the thick of a blue whale world, we found three of these animals together near our ship. As it is hard to interpret the behavior of an immensely large, mostly submerged creature, we only presume to guess what their social behavior is like. Researchers have reported male-female pairs and protective males when a third whale is nearby, as well as fast travel behavior. We watched flanking animals right on the tail of lead whales as third whales came near. We wondered about these social dynamics and what possible role the breaching behavior played.
One advantage of stopping to watch whales is that other things come into view. While watching the blues, we also found lunging Bryde's whales, mobula rays right at our bow and two large groups of common dolphins.
A rising green shadowy form just below the surface transformed into a slowly surfacing blue whale that enjoyed rolling at the surface near our ship. Several times the whales closely approached close our stopped ship, including one that crossing right below our bow, just twenty feet off. A few whales showed off huge tails as they dove. One blue whale rolled on its side exposing a pectoral fin and possibly having a look at us. Of all the blue whale activity we enjoyed this fine day, the improbable breaching flight of one of these big beautiful beings will probably stick with us the most.
