Going Whale Watching in Monterey Bay (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
There was limited seating on the field trip to go whale watching with my daughter’s Waldorf School in Monterey, California, so I did not go along as a chaperone. Instead, I would be the point man on land.
“Call me if
you need Coast Guard Rescue. I’ll get
helicopter rescue and boats if you need it,” I told Florence’s teacher.
Her teacher
did not laugh. He got my number to be
called after 911 in case of emergency. I
was going to write in a café across from the wharf while the kids were out in
the Bay.
I helped
zip jackets for the windy field trip. I
loved seeing the parents get on the boat with binoculars and flutes.
“Stand by
the parents with flutes,” I said to Florence.
The boats have to stay 100 yards away from the porpoise and dolphin pods
and whales, but these animals and the sea otters and brown pelicans come very
close to the boats, especially if summoned by flute music.
The whales
even swim under the boats and thwack them with their tails. This causes chatter to die down and provides
as much thrill as diving on a roller coaster.
Even the smallest humpback whales are 42 feet long and could probably
overturn a boat if they wanted to.
Whales tend
to surface, glide, and leave a stream of brown, smelly debris behind them. You spend a lot of time on the boat moving
around to see the whales as a guide tells you about cetaceans (whales,
porpoises, dolphins and so on).
The
Monterey Bay has a dense concentration of marine mammals due to the offshore
canyon, which is one mile deep. The
Canyon keeps the water cool. Even in
summer, the breezes off Monterey Bay are cold.
Many tourists are unpleasantly surprised by the weather in their shorts
and short-sleeved shirts.
While I was
sipping chai and eating a cinnamon bun, the kids were scurrying around trying
to see whales in 1 o’clock, 5 o’clock, and 7 o’clock positions.
When I went
out to the wharf to get Florence, her face was cold and red. She had kept her jacket zipped up.
“Dolphins
are so cute,” she said.
“Would you
like a hot chocolate,” I asked.
“Yes.” She got one of these and a chocolate chip
cookie.
I knew in
the age of Harry Potter that she was proud she was brave enough to go whale
watching alone.
By Ruth
Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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