Breach at the Beach

This morning I went for a walk to East Bay to read my book. When I got there I sat down on a bench somebody had built between two trees. After a brief moment, I caught from of the corner of my eye the unmistakable shape of a whale breaching! It was just beyond the reef in the vicinity of one of our regular dive sites.

I had to ask myself if I'd really seen what I'd just seen, but there was no question about it. It was massive and it's entire body (except the very end of its tail) was out of the water. There's nothing else it could have been. I stood up and walked to the water's edge just in time to see it do it again! And again! In all I saw them breach 8 times!!! I couldn't believe it because I had spent hours over the past few weeks trying to find them, and here they were when I wasn't even looking.

On the lookout, weeks ago.

There's no saying how many there were. I was too far away and the surf was too rough to see anything besides the jumps. I was able to confirm that they were Humpbacks though; I distinctly saw the long pectoral fin on one of them. The breaches were spaced far enough apart that it could have been as few as just one individual, but I think there must have been several.

Watching Nothing

They were heading East so I scrambled to get my things, keeping my eyes on the water, and hurried down the beach in their direction. I got out to a point by Shark Bay that would have had a great view, but they had passed. I only wish I had had access to a boat so that I could get out there to see them up close.