“My pleasure.”
“So I’ve seen a bunch of dolphins – and they’re awesome – but when do we see the whales?”
Before Carson could answer, the captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “Folks, obviously we’ve seen numerous pods of dolphins, but if you’ll turn your attention to the port bow – that’s front left for you landlubbers – you’ll see what appears to be a fully mature female humpback whale and her calf. Seeing a calf is something special. We’re going to head in that direction, but the rules of law and common sense dictate we stay at least 100 feet from them at all times.”
“Voila,” Carson said as if he controlled the timing of the announcement, but Katie was already training the binoculars towards the whales and did not respond. The boat increased speed and everyone on both decks moved to the port railing to get a good vantage point. Hundreds of eyes scanned in the general direction, but there was nothing on the surface at the moment.
“I don’t see them!” Katie cried out in frustration. “Am I looking in the right direction?”
“Yup. Just keep scanning the general area. They have to surface to breathe every few minutes, and I would think the calf has to do so more frequently.” About 30 seconds later, he spotted a disturbance in the water and saw a huge, dark back breech the waves, followed by a smaller one right next to it.
“Whale!” he cried. “11 o’clock, one-half mile!” The call was perfectly logical to him, but in his peripheral vision he saw several of the passengers looking in every direction trying to figure out what he meant. Carson took hold of Katie’s shoulders and turned her body a bit to the right.
“I see them! Oh, can we get closer?” The boat was already complying before she got the words out, altering course slightly in response to the sighting.
Despite his fairly blasé reaction to the dolphins, Carson heart was pounding at the prospect of seeing a whale up close. He’d heard their haunting songs in the past, from both on and under the surface, but had never gotten a chance to be next to them. He strained his eyes as intently as the other passengers, hoping to get a better look up-close. The whales were fast and the boat, hampered by the pounding waves, was just barely gaining ground on them. They were nearing the mouth of the bay where it opened to the Atlantic Ocean.
Carson became completely caught up in the chase. He didn’t condone whale hunting, of course, but he could easily imagine himself manning the spear gun of a 19th century whaling ship, calling out bearings over his shoulder, being doused with the icy spray of the waters off Massachusetts.
He cocked his head when the wind, so strong and cold against his face, suddenly died off to a light breeze, signaling a change in the weather. He turned away from the chase to look behind the boat, and was surprised by what he saw. A line of dark clouds rolled towards them, stretching both north and south pretty much as far as he could see. He was unable to make out any features of the land behind them, which was a sure indicator of heavy rains and probably heavy winds.
“Hey, Captain,” he called out, “you seein’ this astern?” Clearly, he had been watching it as well, because he gave a thumbs-up and activated the loudspeaker. “Folks, you may have noticed a fairly strong line of clouds coming up behind us. I’m going to do everything I can to get us up to the whales, but at best we’re only going to have one pass before we have to head back to the dock. I’m sorry about that, but your safety always comes first.”
Carson thought he was cutting things a little thin, especially considering how actively Discovery II bobbed in these swells. Anyone dumb enough to be standing on her top deck would be in for quite a ride, but he was sure they would be ordered down to the lower deck as soon as they turned back. He noticed smaller craft running hard for the shelter of their own docks.
“Is the weather really that dangerous?” Katie asked him.
“Probably not. Worst case scenario is we get a little wet and the ride will be a little bouncy, but we’ll be fine.” He looked forward again, hoping they would catch up soon.
Apparently having some preternatural sense of the situation, the two whales slowed to little more than a crawl, loitering near the surface and moving in a random pattern. Discovery II caught up to them in short order, getting close enough that binoculars were not needed to see them. As the captain throttled back, Carson felt droplets of the relatively warm rain strike his neck and back.
“OK, folks, make it quick if you want your pictures. As soon as I sound the horn, I want everyone off the top deck please.” Cameras and cell phones clicked and whirred like the boat was full of paparazzi and the whales were the latest Hollywood couple. As if attracted by the attention, the enormous mammals turned to face the boat briefly before disappearing below the waves. The few “awws” of disappointment were drowned out by the single blast of the boat’s horn, and those still topside moved towards the steps as the boat increased power and started a right turn back towards the dock.
“Hang on,” he told Katie. A series of larger swells were being pushed ahead of the frontal boundary, and they amplified the roll of the boat dramatically. Katie, waiting her turn to go down, remained at the railing, one hand gripping the smooth metal bar, her eyes still looking out and ahead at the expanse of the ocean.
Without warning, two cetacean heads popped up less than 10 feet from the bow, almost directly in the path of the boat. The captain instinctively put the wheel hard over to avoid hitting them,
