… blew right by some whales because we were on a schedule with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Grr!

It was pretty frustrating – nice day for a snorkel cruise, good conditions, nice boat (the Ocean Voyager) with Pacific Whale Foundation. But because we were on a “tight” schedule, our 7.5 hour trip consisted of motoring right past pods of whales. Which, perhaps due to our high rate of speed and high engine noise, generally dove as we approached rather than hanging around on the surface.

I did get some decent shots that will be useful for identifying individuals – they’ll be on Flickr with the tag “whaletail” – but we weren’t close enough for a really good focus. It was a pleasant day, nice people on the boat (including someone who was on our difficult “Mauipocalypse” flight from Dallas on Saturday), but somewhat frustrating in that we’d spot whales at 1 o’clock or 11 o’clock and holler, and we’d watch as they quickly went by at 2, 3, 4 and 5. The captain would only slow down if the whale was dead ahead or crossing our path.

Also – Captain Doug Hunt of Pacific Whale Foundation, your comedy stylings were fine for a boatload of schoolkids, but not so much for a boatload of people of different age groups. It was a long day to have to listen to all the announcements in a childish sing-song delivery… wow, really. Nice boat, nice crew, and but even the kids would appreciate being talked to as adults.