Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
— 16 —
Thar She Blows!
I USED TO LIVE ON
on a boat. Sometimes the boat broke. One time when it broke, fog rolled
in. We shut down the engine and listened for surf so as not to run aground while we waited
for the fog to lift.
As we lay dead in the water, a baby gray whale surfaced next to us and blew spume over
the starboard gunnel. For half an hour and more he surfaced and dived next to us, so light
in color he looked like a baby Moby Dick, his dark eye (you could only see one at a time)
intelligent and curious, his manner fearless. Mom said he probably thought we were his
mother.
After a while, he went on his way. After a while longer, the fog lifted and we went ours.
I've had a special place in my heart for mammals with fins ever since. I think they're cool,
and they are, literally. They have heat exchangers for flippers. They can slow their heart
rate from 100 beats per minute to 10 beats per minute from one beat to the next. They nap
underwater while holding their breath.
Before you're impressed at how well informed I am, I should say that I knew none of
this before I went to
Whalefest!
in Sitka this year.
Every November Sitka throws a party to celebrate the humpback whales passing through
Sitka Sound on their one-month trip to Maui. It's a three day celebration that includes pan-
els on whales and other marine life, a trade fair, a children's art show, a sea chantey con-
cert, a 10K walk/run, and a Russian/Native dance show, not to mention the whale watch
cruises.
Panels are held Friday morning, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning. There are
talks on sea cucumbers and elephant seals and fork-tailed storm petrels, but I stick single-
mindedly to whales. Dr. Mike Castellini, a marine biologist from the University of Alaska
