Whales tales

[Kevin G]

Went to sea as a merchant deck officer (sort of like the OOD for you navy types) for over 35 years and saw plenty of sea life, whales included.
Whale ship-strikes are not real common but not unheard of either. Countless times I've taken a evasive action and dodged whales, also turned on the fathometer in the hopes of alerting them more to our presence.
The ships I worked on were between 700 to 1000 feet long, didn't handle like a sports car.
If a whale is struck square, T-boned so to speak, it can get wrapped around the stem, a bulbulous projection similar to a battering ram at the bottom of the bow that improves hull efficiency, tends to hold the carcass in place with water pressure as the ship travels forward. A decrease in speed and increase on engine load is a clue something is amiss. The ship has to be stopped and backed down to clear the carcass.
I'd been shipping probably 20 years and never been aboard a ship when she had this experience. A trip from the West Coast to Japan in the North Pacific we picked up two whales in one passage. Picked each one up during the dark hours, one had been dead and partially decomposed as the odor was quite strong. The other one was probably in good shape before it tangled with us. It's time wrapped around the stem at around 16 knots distorted it pretty good.
We had a young third mate, Kyle, who was pretty good with computers and technology. He went up on the bow and hung out through the bullnose and took some photos with a digital camera. He then went to the computer, edited a photo, made some posters with the caption "ONLY PUSSIES USE HARPOONS".
We had a good Skipper, tried to talk him into letting us paint a couple of whale icons up on the bridge wings the way warships or aircraft credit their kills. He wouldn't go for it.
Although we joked about it, as a rule, those in my industry take the environment and it's inhabitants pretty seriously. I've seen the crankiest old salt stop and watch a pod of whales or school of porpoise with a smile on his face.
Although retirement is good there are days I miss shipboard life.
Thanks, Kevin

 

[andy52]

Yes we hit one in the Indian Ocean at 0200 in the morning. I was on a destroyer and needless to say it awakened everyone onboard. The whale went completely under the hull and through the screws. Part of the carcass got hung up in the screws and was thumping the bottom of the hull. We turn around and turned on spotlights to see what we had hit and there were pieces of the whale floating everywhere. Not something I will ever forget.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

This sounds like the problem we have with deer and cars, only hundreds of times larger! A small thing that helped my family was "Deer Whistles", if installed properly (in the slipstream) they really get the deer's attention. Maybe you were on to something with the fathometer, but I would think if too many were operating at once, it would only create confusion. (like several voices yelling at once!)

Ivan

 

[vigil617]

Always fun to hear your sea stories, Kevin; keep 'em coming!

While standing the 1600-2000 watch as OOD on my cutter one lovely late afternoon off Cape Hatteras, I had to order right rudder to avoid a whale that suddenly breached a few hundred yards directly ahead. Thankfully, I had "eyes in the boat" right then and saw it at the same time the lookout did. Completely unexpected on a quiet watch. Still wish I'd ordered left rudder instead, since it was crossing port to starboard, but no harm done, thankfully.

 

[Nevada Ed]

While on watch in the Pacific when I was in the Navy, I enjyed the craziness of flying fish and every now and then we would get a look at a pod of these beautiful animals...........

 

[BearBio]

Just before I moved to Sacramento for my first job as a Federal biologist, my brother-in-law and our wives went out of Dana Point during an el Nino. It was pretty rough and although we saw several Dorado, we'd lose them in the chop before we could turn around.

I was in the back talking to Jim and my wife asked me "Greg, what is this?" I didn't answer, so she said "What the H+++ is THIS? It's bigger than the boat!" (We were in an 18 foot inboard/outboard). I looked over and there was a 20 foot pilot whale about 3 feet from us swimming alongside. I told her to reach out and touch it but I don't remember if she did.

About the same time, my college called about me teaching a Marine Biology lab on Catalina Island (I had received my BS in Marine Biology the year before). No pay but a weekend trip for the wife and I to the Island. About half way across the Channel, we ran into a "Superpod" of dolphins. I have a picture of my honey standing by the rail and there are at least a half dozen dolphins in the air in the background!

That night I was sleeping below decks with the students when there was a scraping sound. Everybody started getting upset and screaming we were sinking or something! I told them to calm down; it was only the pilot whales rubbing themselves on the keel!

Last halibut trip, we had to go out through Katchemak Bay (Homer) due ti winds and rough seas. Fishing was so-so but we saw over a dozen "humpies" and 2 dozen orcas, as well as a dozen otters.

 

[mtgianni]

Off the Chilean Fjords the best way to see whales was to look for birds. Where there is Krill on the surface the whales are not that far off.

 

[andy52]

The largest pod of dolphins I ever saw was south of the Azores just off the coast of Africa they numbered in the 100s and 100s. There were so many that they announced it over the intercom so everyone that wanted too could go topside and have a look, it was an amazing sight.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I saw a lot more "Fish" when at the beaches and bays, North of San Fran
when I was younger, from whales down to sting rays and had small Leopard sharks rub against your legs while in the shallows, waiting for a wave set to do some body surfing.
Never saw a White toss a seal in the air in the "Red Triangle" that was in our swimming area or a surfer hit and run but we all knew what was out there.
With the kids, I would "Roll Boulders" on the beaches to let the kids see the little Red & Green crabs, scamper for cover.
Lots of fun when you get near Salt water.

 

[BearBio]

An Aussie buddy and I were going snorkeling at Windansea and we stopped at the bluffs. We were watching garibaldis rise up out of the kelp beds and then we noticed several large, dark shapes moving from kelp patch to kelp patch.

We decided to go to Scripps Institute (the OLD Scripps, not the new one) instead!

 

[hsguy]

I have always loved watching whales. We would often go to Hawaii in March to see the annual migration. Several times we have been there and while snorkeling you could hear the whale songs, a remarkable experience. One time my daughter-in-law had her GoPro camera to film the reef fishes and the whale calls were very loud and could be heard on the video. Don't know how to post a video but it was remarkable. Magnificent creatures. The last photo is my Wife and Granddaughter watching the whales, my Granddaughter loved whales but had never seen one so we took her over for the migration, she was enthralled and actually heard them singing underwater while snorkeling on a reef.

 

[steelslaver]

Having fished commercially inAlaska I have seen all kinds of whales close up. Once in a seine skiff I watched a bull and 2 cow killer whales get a seal off a rock maybe 100yds away. The one cow looked me in the eye as the swam away. Orcas often swim right alongside for a few miles and porpoises will swim right on the bow, but most seiners only go about 9-10 knots. Interesting animals. I once saw a big humpback sound right up through a seine, web and corks hanging off him. He swam away shortly and the boat went off to anchor up and try to repair their shredded net. The nets that trap wales are usually big and free floating and the whale travels through them wrapping them all along there body. I fished 12 years and never caught a whale or porpose. Just one baby seal which the skipper managed to smack me with as he tossed it back to it back over the side still very much alive.

I knew a crew that caught a porpoise, but maybe there are "learning disabled" porpoises just like humans.

 

[llowry61]

Just before I moved to Sacramento for my first job as a Federal biologist, my brother-in-law and our wives went out of Dana Point during an el Nino. It was pretty rough and although we saw several Dorado, we'd lose them in the chop before we could turn around.

I was in the back talking to Jim and my wife asked me "Greg, what is this?" I didn't answer, so she said "What the H+++ is THIS? It's bigger than the boat!" (We were in an 18 foot inboard/outboard). I looked over and there was a 20 foot pilot whale about 3 feet from us swimming alongside. I told her to reach out and touch it but I don't remember if she did.

About the same time, my college called about me teaching a Marine Biology lab on Catalina Island (I had received my BS in Marine Biology the year before). No pay but a weekend trip for the wife and I to the Island. About half way across the Channel, we ran into a "Superpod" of dolphins. I have a picture of my honey standing by the rail and there are at least a half dozen dolphins in the air in the background!

That night I was sleeping below decks with the students when there was a scraping sound. Everybody started getting upset and screaming we were sinking or something! I told them to calm down; it was only the pilot whales rubbing themselves on the keel!

Last halibut trip, we had to go out through Katchemak Bay (Homer) due ti winds and rough seas. Fishing was so-so but we saw over a dozen "humpies" and 2 dozen orcas, as well as a dozen otters.

We fished out of Homer a few years back, once you get out around the point you know what weather you are dealing with. We fished 2 days on a 65 foot charter boat. The first day it was flat calm, we saw orcas, grey whales breaching, puffins etc. We caught multiple halibut weighing up to about 125lbs as well as ling cod up to about 65lbs The second day it was a 180, so rough we caught our fish and got off that ocean. Beautiful place down on the spit. Someone had mounted a toilet on top of a telephone pole and an eagle was nesting in it. We had a lot of fun on that trip. We headed back to the Kenai for salmon fishing after the ocean fishing.

 

[llowry61]

I have always loved watching whales. We would often go to Hawaii in March to see the annual migration. Several times we have been there and while snorkeling you could hear the whale songs, a remarkable experience. One time my daughter-in-law had her GoPro camera to film the reef fishes and the whale calls were very loud and could be heard on the video. Don't know how to post a video but it was remarkable. Magnificent creatures. The last photo is my Wife and Granddaughter watching the whales, my Granddaughter loved whales but had never seen one so we took her over for the migration, she was enthralled and actually heard them singing underwater while snorkeling on a reef.

Snorkeling in Hanauma bay was a lot of fun. Had a buddy stationed at Kaneohoe bay in the corps. We went to Hanauma and rather than swim out over the reef to get to the backside, we jumped off about halfway down the walk down. We had to time the waves so you wouldn't get swept up onto the rocks. He told me to watch him and then he would tell me when to jump, but no matter what happened when I hit the water swim hard to get away from the rocks. Well I jumped and swam for all I was worth, when I stopped and looked up my buddy was nowhere in sight. Turned around and he was about about 20 yards behind me. He said you really took the swim like heck to heart didn't you! The fish we saw were incredible. We had an underwater camera and got some great pics around here somewhere.

 

[hsguy]

Thanks for the reply! I was talking about Hanauma Bay with my daughter and her spouse the other day. I hope the downturn in tourism due to the pandemic has allowed some time for the bay to recover. Unfortunately the reef there is rather shallow and many tourists walk on it and have caused great damage to it. The last time I snorkeled there it was in very sad condition. It is so close to Honolulu the tourist pressure on it is enormous.

 

[Stevens]

One of the TV Weekend News shows did a feature on whales being hit by ships at sea. Seems some of the wildlife groups are looking for ways to lessen the "encounters" mostly ways to notify ships areas whales are frequenting so the ships will avoid them. I wish them well, but, I'm not sure how well that will work out, although it might help whale hunters who might listen in on the transmissions.
Speaking of dolphins I've seen many the most amazing sight was a large group of "spinner dolphins" leaping and spinning like tops before falling back into the water.
Below is a nice dolphin (not a Spinner) picture my wife took from our boat a few years ago.
Steve W

 

[BearBio]

I've seen spinners once! WOW!

 

[hsguy]

We had the great luck of being surrounded by a pod of Spinner Dolphins once, the boat stopped to avoid hitting any. There we even football sized babies trying out their spinning technique. Quite a sight.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Spain has had to restrict sailboats under 50 feet in length from a section of it's north coast, after a month of Orca strikes that have damaged and disabled sailboats.

Orcas knock into sailboats, force Spain to limit yachting

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Onomea]

Read some earlier articles about the Spanish orcas damaging small boats, and no one could figure out why. A marine biologist in BWZ's article thinks it might be juveniles playing rough and maybe enjoying causing damage. Juvenile delinquents, essentially.

Hanauma Bay on Oahu is beautiful, but man is it packed with tourists, who arrive by the busload in addition to rental cars.

If you continue on H1 just a little further, on the left is the Koko Head Shooting Range, about the only place on Oahu that you can shoot, unless you have access to a military base. Used to spend a fair amount of time there. (Come to think of it, I think there is an indoor range in Waikiki that rents guns to tourists, primarily from Asia, but I've never been.)