Blue Whale Encounters to the Sounds of Chundering

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Blue whales, the largest mammal on Earth and a lifelong dream of mine to see them in the wild. The Indian Ocean is one of the best places to do this as its a breeding and feeding ground as opposed to a place they pass through as is the norm with so many other blue whale spotting locations.

The morning started as most on our holiday: waking before sunrise, then being picked up by a tuk-tuk at 5.50am to take us a distance we could easily walk. Glyn had pre-booked us with 'Raja and the Whales' and upon arrival we were offered sea-sickness tablets. Now having been on many boat trips and never once suffering from sea-sickness in my life, I wasn't going to take one and was concerned it may not mix with other medication I'm on. But I took it anyway.

The boat we were to go whale spotting in was fairly big and being low-season, there were only about 20 tourists and maybe around 7 crew. The Captain's son gave us a lecture on safety as the Indian Ocean is quite lumpy and bumpy despite being 'calm' today. He told us to ask for sick bags before it was too late and if we were sick, to 'be strong' as we would not be turning back. Now I thought this was all getting excessive; as I said I've been on loads of boat trips in various countries and never came across anyone banging on about sea-sickness at all.

Captain Son also told us about blue whales and how we would only track them from the sides (as their eyes are in the side of their heads and we do not want to cross their path nor seem to be chasing them) to follow international standards. Also, when we stop to look at one, not to shout or make noise as the boat engine would be switched off so that we could listen to the sounds of the whale breathing and spouting water. Also, no guarantee we would see whales, they don't use sonar but follow their path having learned the whale behaviour over the years.

It would be around an hour before we hit an area deep enough for blue whales which is also an international shipping lane where around 250 ships per day passed resulting in around 5 whales being hit per year.

The crew served us plates of delicious fresh mixed fruit but the moment I finished it, I knew something wasn't right. Now, as I said, I've never suffered sea-sickness in my life so it couldn't be that. I felt woozy and sweaty, but not hot weather sweaty, rather fever sweaty. What was going on? Looking up I saw another woman ahead of me gathering attention from the crew and it wasn't looking good. As there were only 8 of us in the area, I had my choice of seats and moved to one by the aisle and at the back, just in case... It wasn't long before I had to accept what was happening and motion to the crew member standing watch over us to bring me a bag. The boat was rocking and lunging, so walking was extremely difficult for the unexperienced. After a minute or so, my lovely fresh fruit made a return journey and then I continued to retch on an empty belly because for some insane inexplicable reason, the human body does this. I can no longer say I've never been sea-sick in my life.

Looking up I could see the other woman being ill too and this reassured me that it wasn't just me. The crew obviously are used to this as the crewman watching us was ready with bags, tissues and then replacement bags which I thankfully didn't need but was concerned when other woman needed hers - I'd presumed that once the belly emptied that this would be an end to the matter. Crewman then arrived with two large ice cold flannels and after seeing to other woman, came and completely smothered my face with the flannel, wiped my forehead and then wrapped it around my neck after undoing my life jacket. I started to feel better and dozed off.

I awoke to the sounds of shouting, a blue whale had been spotted a few kilometres away and everyone needed to get to the upper deck. I felt OK now but other woman was almost as green as her flannel, I smiled at her and pointed to my towel to let her know she wasn't the only one.

We were all instructed to sit down as the boat was swaying so much there was no way the land-lubbers could stay upright. In the distance we could see the spouting from the whale. We got close enough to see it dive and its tail in the air. The captain reckoned this one was around 20 metres long, he recognises some of them by the marking on their tails. He starting timing after the whale submerged and after around 14 minutes, it resurfaced a few kilometres away. We got closer and the engines were switched to listen to he gentle sounds of various passengers throwing up on the deck below. I couldn't hear the whale.

It was now time for our daily dose of torrential rain that lasts around half an hour then completely dried up. We followed the whale for a few dives and left it as the captain said we shouldn't risk upsetting it. In the distance as well as large freighters we could also see three other whale watching boats gathering a safe distance from another whale that according to our captain wasn't as good as ours as it didn't show its tail as it dived. Now as the boats were mere specks on the horizon I'm not sure how he knew this.

More spouting was spotted in the distance and we headed to a second whale, getting more tail action and I saw more of its back. It was amazing to get so close but hard for me to gauge the size in the vast expanse of the sea where huge cargo ships seemed pea-sized. We were offered breakfast and then cake but I dared not risk it even though I felt almost OK.

Now Glyn thought he heard the Captain say we'd seen four whales but I am sure he said that the next one we saw was the same one from earlier. They are solitary animals unless it's breeding time, so there wouldn't be too many about, however, I'm not sure how far we travelled - we were out from 6.15 am to after 11am.

After this the Captain checked that we were all happy with what we'd seen and explained that it was good to leave and so give the whales their space which they need a lot of being so huge.

Returning to the harbour, we were met by stripey-shirt tuk-tuk driver's son as promised yesterday in his tuk-tuk. As agreed previously he took us the short distance to our accommodation for free and was a bit put out that we weren't going to Uda Walawe today - we never said we were! Anyway, we planned for him to pick us up in his tuk-tuk tomorrow at 9am to commence our epic journey in the small vehicle. He asked us what we were doing this afternoon as he had a taxi and could take us somewhere. Wait, he has a car but wants to take us on a 2.5 hour journey (at least) in a tuk-tuk instead? Strange.

Feeling a lot better I was ready for some food so we headed to the main narrow beach of Marissa where we found a bar/restaurant that served me a cheese roti that was more like a flat pie. Glyn and I both had banana lassis which were very nice. Beside the bar were loungers that we were invited to use for free with absolutely no hassle to buy anything further.

Glyn and I headed the few feet to the sea, the sand underneath descended quite steeply but then due to ridges, people quite far out were waist deep. The waves were far too powerful to swim in and so people were just jumping in it or using surf boards to ride the waves back to shore. I've never been in such strong waves that pulled me over and dragged me along the coast. Standing in the path of a particularly strong wave that hits the sand then surges back, hitting the next oncoming wave when you are sandwiched in the middle is a bit of a shock at first. One second you are waist deep, then slap - you are enveloped in two waves that collide and spray upwards covering your head and body. We had great fun in this sea; I normally get bored quite quickly in the sea but this kept me amused for sometime, riding the waves and getting washed up onshore.

Glyn and I spent the afternoon reading, had a couple of drinks and went wave jumping again until the sun began to set and it was time to clear the loungers away. Not to worry, the staff replaced them with tables and chairs and so we thought we may as well have our evening meal there. It was dark when we left, if we'd stayed much longer they might have charged us rent!

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Photos

Blue Whale Tail Fin
Sri Lanka

Two whale spotting boats.
Ours is on the right

View for the afternoon
Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Blue Whale Tail Fin
Sri Lanka

Hubby waiting for tea
The waves often made it as far as the tables, occasionally further!

Fish table
The table had poles deeply wedged into the sand to stop it being swept away. This was the only place it could go where it would be visible to passerby by. You cannot walk on this beach without getting your legs wet.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Love the fish markets
Nice selection