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I had been looking forward to this day ever since we arrived in Ecuador. Today was whale watching. Our goal was to find humpback whales. Right now it is there mating season and very active off the coast.
The day started early. Everyone met around 8 am for the 2 hour drive to the beach town of Salinas. Salinas might be considered Ecuador’s resort town. Actually its nickname is little Miami, though I think that is giving it a bit more credit. The weather was rainy, and cloudy, perfect for whale watching. When we arrived in Salinas we started walking towards the beach. That’s when we started looking at each other confused. We were walking towards the beach, when we thought we should be walking towards a dock. We only got more confused as we loaded into a little dingy. It wasn’t until we got to our boat that we realized what was wrong. Our tour boat was no more than what we would consider a fishing boat. All of us had had an image of a nice yacht. The typical vessel used for whale watching in the US. We had let our American ideas get in the way. Luckily no one was too disappointed. Most of us just laughed at our silly mistake and got into the boat.
We took the boat about five miles off shore. It was a pretty rocky ride out there. The swells were about 5 to 6 ft and our boat was small so it was an adventure. On the way we were able to see some wildlife including some blue-footed boobies. Who says you need to go to the Galapagos. Once we had arrived at the whale hangout I climbed through a hole at the front of the boat to sit on the bow. There two other girls and I were able to get a perfect seat. After 5 minutes we started seeing them on the horizon, or the mist from their blowholes anyways. There were so many, but still so far away. Then we found three that were somewhat close. They were swimming together and the marine biologist explained that it was a female and two males trying to get her attention. They would swim on the surface for a bit and then dive down for 5 minutes. All we could do during that time is move the boat slowly in the direction that we thought they were going in. Several times they would pop up right in front of us only about 40 yards away. It was unbelievable.
After about an hour of following the whales it was time to go back for a late lunch. The three of us at the front climbed through the hole to join everyone else. And about half of everyone else had their head in a bag. There were 25 of us that went on the trip. By the time we got back there were about 15 people sick. The remaining 10 of us ( I include myself, thankfully) could only help so much without falling over, it was so rocky.
Everyone was better by the time we were on shore and given lunch. It’s a good thing too because lunch was awesome. We had traditional shrimp ceviche and a seafood pasta or chicken. I had seafood, but I didn’t know what kind of fish was in it. Our tour guide said that it was gold fish. My roommate and I just looked at each other, burst out laughing, and continued to eat. Later he apologized and said that it was called dorado, and was translating it literally. It was actually something like tilapia, which we were disappointed about. Still it didn’t taste like tilapia, so maybe it was goldfish.
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Mom
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It was so great to talk to you last night. The blog entrys were fabulous. It sounds like you are having a great time. We are so happy for you. It seems you are taking advantage of all that is available to you and that is great. Hope to hear from you soon. Lots of love Mom