2024 Trip 1 - Part II

Day 3

Saw nothing today :( It's days like this when I get super discouraged, especially following 7 days of nothing in Sri Lanka. Heard a group next to us at dinner talk about what they saw and my ears were pretty much bleeding with envy. 

And this isn't because of a lack of trying. My guide found the radio channel for a rival group's spotter plane so we could listen to their intel. But he later admitted that channels are 6-digits long, so there's no way he could've guessed it. The only reason he has it is because he has an inside man at the other rival company. This way, he can get us 2x the intel. Honestly, much admiration.

Because I had so much time to sit and think, I realized shooting blanks is borrowed from photography referring to people shooting incorrectly loaded film and the negatives come out as blanks. 

Today's rating: 0/10

Day 4

We got intel about orcas up north, so we ended up spending 4 hours there but had no luck. Things got wildly tense on the boat. The German lady who claimed she was an orca in a prior life had a big breakdown. She accused the captain of false advertising because she hadn't seen any orcas (lol this isn’t SeaWorld lady). The captain got pretty worked up and told us that his ex of 6 years dumped him bc of his orca obsession. To him, this meant he wanted to see orcas more than anyone else on the boat. Honestly everyone could use therapy, but I minded my own business and stared out at the ocean to disassociate.

After a few hours of drifting, we got a call saying there was a blue whale and two pregnant whale sharks an hour away. By the time we got there, the whale was unfortunately gone. 

I’ve been wanting to see blue whales for a very long time. After my failed trip to Sri Lanka, my obsession became borderline unhealthy. My intense fascination with blue whales is equally driven by their colossal scale and intricate intelligence, and the fact that they are elusive and extremely hard to encounter. If you google blue whale photos / footages on the internet, there aren't that many available. We know so little about them.

At least the preggo whale shark was still around. To be completely honest, I would’ve been ok without seeing whale sharks. I naively thought that while the biggest shark would be pretty cool, it's not as cool as the biggest animal to have ever existed (team marine mammals!). I was so wrong.

When I saw her, my breath was taken away. 

She was ginormous, probably around 15m / 45ft in length, and definitely the biggest animal I've ever seen to date. In the absence of sound and surrounded by water, she looked like a prehistoric behemoth, suspended in time and space.

We were told that she 2x larger than normal whale sharks, our captain clocked her to be ~100 years in age. You can see how big she is with a free diver next to her for scale.

In total, I spent ~30 mins with her, slowly taking in her size, prehistoric patterns, and the groupies of pilot fish and remoras. I dove with her as she faded in and out of the depth of water, and eventually disappeared. 

That night, I ended up meeting the group of people who saw the blue whale earlier. I was so jealous lol. I sat far away from them so I didn’t have to hear them talk about it.
The captain and I ended up chatting about wildlife filmmaking. When I asked him why he stopped taking photos, he laughed. “Money is all in videos now”. He told me wildlife filmmaking has taken on a freelance model, where bounties are paid out to whoever completes the assignment. His friend who filmed the first ever orca hunting blue whale drone footage got paid a handsome ~$300K and forever bragging rights.

I thought about what that life would be like - chasing animals for the next payday and glory. I think that would ruin this for me. 

Day 5
Woke up feeling pretty deflated. It’s been ~11 continuous days on the water without whales (carrying over Sri Lanka trip), but in reality it's nothing compared to the typical yield when looking for blue whales. The captain told us that he's had maybe 5 success drops over the past 8 years. The numbers really aren't in my favour.

People always tell you to have no expectations. But it’s really hard when you are secretly hoping for a miracle to happen but also trying to future manage your disappointment. I went through a few cycles of this before getting annoyed at myself. I ended up taking a nap, which was super convenient because am violently narcoleptic on boats.

I got woken up sometime later. Apparently there is a blue whale nearby!!! I got ready and put on my weight belt, fins, mask and set up my camera in record speed. Some encounters are a few seconds at best so you have to get ready fast.

As we got closer to the spot, I saw the whale surfacing for air in the distance. With each subsequent surfacing, it got closer and closer to our boat. Eventually, its light blue body appeared a mere 10 metres away. 

The tip of its mandible broke the water first, followed by the rest of its head, and eventually, what I think was its eye. Not sure why, but I started to scream uncontrollably. I took its proximity as a sign that it was curious about us, and I dove in.

I’ve been trying to write about what my encounter felt like for the last two weeks, but words don't do it justice.

I kept diving with the whale until I felt sharp pain in my ears. Being made acutely aware of my physical limits, I stopped and watched it continue its dive. Seeing its 100 ft body plunged into the depth, first converging into a small cloud then completely gone from my sight, completely renewed my understanding of the ocean's vastness and human fragility. We are tiny tiny beings. 

One of you asked me why I can't just watch them from the boat. I think it's because when you are watching whales from a boat, you are watching them from the comfort of the human world. Physically close, experientially apart. But when you are in the water with them, you are in their home. For a brief moment, I was coexisting with this 100 ft giant in the same plane, diving in the same water, fully aware of each other's presence. It was the most profound awe I've ever experienced, and it was transformationally beautiful.  

Closed out the trip with a hazy evening dive with mobulas

Post trip reflection
It's been 2 weeks since I got back. Admittedly, writing about the experience has been increasingly harder with time. As more regular life days came in between the trip and  the present, the memory has become fuzzier. I have to work harder to re-access that deep awe that was so fresh just 2 weeks ago.

This weekend, I stopped by the Liberty Science Center because it's the opening weekend for the Blue Whale exhibit. They have a complete blue whale skeleton, a skull and the only preserved blue whale heart in the world, all collected from dead whales that got trapped in the ice by Newfoundland.

Up until then, my encounter with the blue whale still hadn't fully registered in my brain. But having the opportunity to stand next to a blue whale, this time in the comfort of my own world, afforded me all the time I needed to take it all in and process my experience. 

I do think often about the blue whale I saw, especially when I'm alone at night or sitting in my bathtub. I think about what it's up to and where in the world it is now. I wonder if it would remember seeing this odd creature that one time in the Sea of Cortez, and if it'd ever get to meet a human again. 

Until next time.