Part of the 1%

At the end of July, almost 2 weeks ago, Nathan Jr came to visit Dr Desert Flower and I for part of a week (4 days).  On his last day here, we took him whale watching at the Dana Wharf Whale Watching and Sport Fishing cruise provider up in Orange County.  DDF and I had gone there back at Mother's Day, and we saw no whales, so they gave us 2 free passes to come back.  This trip did not disappoint.

We first saw a swarm of dolphins.  This were probably about 1000 individual common dolphins, but our son had never seen more than 1/2 a dozen together on the East Coast, so it was a treat.

Then, we saw the first blue whale.  It was impressive.  Larger than a greyhound bus, and actually the largest animal to ever swim, or live, on this blue marble - even bigger than any dinosaur, Brachiosaurus, Siesomosaurus, or even Ichthyosaur.  Our boat's captain tried to get closer without spooking the massive cetacean...  but it dove to feed.  Once they dive, it is a good 7 to 10 minutes before they come back up again.  

When they submerge, they leave a signature "flat spot" on the surface, large enough to park a Winnebago on.

So we moved over to a 2nd blue whale who was cruising along the surface.  Again, very impressive.  Awe inspiring.  We had seen gray whales before, but these blue whales dwarfed their gray cousins.  Our boat was a 65 footer...  about 2/3rds the size of a full grown blue whale adult.

After we saw these impressive creatures and we were heading back to Dana Point Harbor, our captain announced that we were all part of "the 1% now", since less than 1% of all humans have ever seen a living Blue Whale.  And we got to see 2 separate individuals, about a 1/2 mile apart, 7 miles SW of Dana Point.  = )