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Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog
The Just One More Mile story of Paul's Trans Americas 2009 motorcycle expedition.Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Having a whale of a time...
With the excitement of the whale-watching trip ahead I still woke early despite a sore throat brought on by too many mojitos (I blame Aaron for introducing us to that particular drink, although it is very nice), although my early start was also due to Jim getting up very early once again. Aftera small breakfast with lots of fresh orange juice I went back to my room and updated the blog before heading down to the lobby at “Cowboy Time” (ten to ten) to meet the other intrepid whale-watchers. Our little party of Aaron, Nick, Phil, Simon, Late Guy and Pertti was joined by Julia, getting a very rare day off while Kevin continued to work on preparations for our arrival in BA and the freighting of the bikes home. She was bubbling with excitement, partly as a result of being let off the leash, but also at the prospect of seeing whales – she'd done the same trip in 2005 and not seen any... so, no pressure on me to deliver then!
Just before ten our guide, who introduced himself as “Popeye”, arrived and we all clambered into the back of our minibus for the journey from Puerto Madryn to Puerto Pyramid where our boat would be sailing from. The journey took just over an hour to cover the 100Km, and during that time we chatted and Popeye explained a little about the whales. Well, he gave us 2 interesting facts anyway. First, that you can tell the difference between fish and mammals (whales and dolphins being mammals not fish) by the way they move their tails – fish move side to side, mammals up and down. Second was that you can tell if a mammal has teeth (to bite you with!) by the number of blow-holes – one and it does, two and it doesn't. At least I think that's what he said...
We arrived at the port a little after 11am and so had an hour to kill before the boat was due to depart at noon, so we wandered off to grab a coffee. Being another self-organised tour it presented another opportunity to take the mickey out of Aaron for the penguin-mishap and so Simon presented him with a little pottery penguin...
Naturally, I was now keeping very quiet in case we didn't see any whales...
Just before noon we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation and he re-appeared bearing bad news. The authorities had closed the port due to the conditions out in the ocean (it did look pretty choppy from the shore). But they were expecting the wind to change direction and things to calm down so we were advised to wait until 1pm and return then. I remained confident that we'd get out and see whales and re-assured the rest of our little group. As the weather was improving we decided to wait and passed the hour walking along the beach, or relaxing in the sunshine. I took a photo of the boat on the beach just in case that was as close as we got...
Just before 1pm we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation again and once again he re-appeared bearing bad news. The port was still closed, but the weather was improving, and to come back at 2pm when they thought there was a chance the port would be re-opened. We could see the weather was improving as the ocean, which was filled with white-horses when we arrived, the waves breaking as far out as we could see, was now almost mill-pond calm. As we still had time to wait and do the boat-trip and still get back to the hotel before the time fort the group quiz, we agreed to wait and went in search of lunch. As I wasn't hungry I abstained, and was very glad I did as the meals the others got looked terrible. And so we waited another hour, passing the time any way we could.
Just before 2pm we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation and this time he emerged with a big grin and thumbs-up... we would be going in 10 minutes! The relief was quickly replaced by child-like excitement as we put on our life-jackets, and Simon put on a rather attractive poncho (the rest of us brought our bike waterproofs)... he looked like one of Santa's helpers...
We boarded the boat and it was pushed back into the ocean, then the engines started and we left the trailer behind and headed out into open water. The excitement was reaching fever pitch, Julia sat next to me smiling broadly and repeating “we're going to see some whales” over and over again. What happened next will remain in my memory for ever as one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. First, we caught sight of a whale just off the starboard bow (the right side and where I was sat), then the captain switched the engines off and we glided closer. Just as we got within 30 feet of where we'd seen the whale, a huge mother and her calf surfaced, blowing spray from their blowholes just a few yards from our boat...
The mood on the boat changed in that instant, from child-like exuberance to quiet awe. Everyone on board was entranced by these wonderful creatures, who seemed completely unfazed by our presence. Rather than swim away, they decided to play a while, swimming close to the boat, surfacing and putting on a display for us. The mother kept moving the calf closer, encouraging her offspring to explore our boat, and whilst for the most part they avoided any actual contact, they did bump into us gently once or twice. It's impossible for me to describe quite how humbling an experience it was to watch this display of nature at its finest for over half an hour, so I'll once again let just a few of the countless pictures I took paint the scene (captions available by hovering over each image)...
The display was magical but it had to end at some stage and finally mother and calf submerged and swam off. As they did, the chatter in the boat returned as everyone tried to share their personal experiences with each other at once. Quite simply stunning...
We then set off into deeper water where we hoped to see some more whales, but as the season is coming to an end – the Souther Right Whales come to this area to breed and leave in early December – there were not many about. We did get sight of one more, a lone youngster heading back out into the deep ocean, travelling at a fair old pace, the tail emerging from the water as it dived deeper to gain speed, affording me my one chance to capture that iconic image... and I almost got it too...
Finally it was time to turn round and head towards the shore, stopping briefly to admire the shape of the rock that gives Puerto Pyramid its name and to see where the sea lions breed (which in turn attracts the whales, including Orcas). There was only one sea-lion there today, a huge great big fella fast asleep on a rock... remind you of anyone?
Back on shore we wandered back to where Popeye was waiting, our smiles revealing the success of the trip, and handed back the life-jackets. I don't recall much of the journey back to town as I fell asleep, as did the rest of the group, exhausted from being outside in the fresh air and sunshine and mentally drained by the whale-watching. Once back at the hotel I had just half an hour to load up yesterday's blog and have a quick chat with Tracy before heading down to the bar area for the “Globebusters Trans-Am 2009 Quiz”...
With teams allocated randomly (I was teamed up with Jim and Ed) the quiz comprised some 40 questions ranging from “what was the name of the town we stayed in after this picture?” to “what were the names of the people who didn't do the naked swim in the Arctic?”. Some, like “how many golf balls could the world's largest truck carry?” were clearly designed to identify those in the group with anally-retentive memories... I was pleasantly surprised by how many I could answer, as I was prevented from referring to my blog and my memory is terrible. And we didn't come last. Just. I think someone wasn't counting up correctly, but that's probably because I don't like losing... The girls team won, no surprise really as they had Lorraine and she is a mine of interesting facts about everywhere we go (we often refer to “Lorraining it” as opposed to “Googling”). With the quiz over we went out for dinner, a quiet affair as we were still tired from the boat trip. A plate of curried prawns (don't get excited, in these parts “curry” means very slightly flavoured with very mild curry powder) and a bottle of Aqua sin gas (water). See, a dry day. And a relatively early night too...
Tomorrow is the start of the final 3 days riding to Buenos Aires... it's all getting a little bit emotional...
Just before ten our guide, who introduced himself as “Popeye”, arrived and we all clambered into the back of our minibus for the journey from Puerto Madryn to Puerto Pyramid where our boat would be sailing from. The journey took just over an hour to cover the 100Km, and during that time we chatted and Popeye explained a little about the whales. Well, he gave us 2 interesting facts anyway. First, that you can tell the difference between fish and mammals (whales and dolphins being mammals not fish) by the way they move their tails – fish move side to side, mammals up and down. Second was that you can tell if a mammal has teeth (to bite you with!) by the number of blow-holes – one and it does, two and it doesn't. At least I think that's what he said...
We arrived at the port a little after 11am and so had an hour to kill before the boat was due to depart at noon, so we wandered off to grab a coffee. Being another self-organised tour it presented another opportunity to take the mickey out of Aaron for the penguin-mishap and so Simon presented him with a little pottery penguin...
Naturally, I was now keeping very quiet in case we didn't see any whales...
Just before noon we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation and he re-appeared bearing bad news. The authorities had closed the port due to the conditions out in the ocean (it did look pretty choppy from the shore). But they were expecting the wind to change direction and things to calm down so we were advised to wait until 1pm and return then. I remained confident that we'd get out and see whales and re-assured the rest of our little group. As the weather was improving we decided to wait and passed the hour walking along the beach, or relaxing in the sunshine. I took a photo of the boat on the beach just in case that was as close as we got...
Just before 1pm we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation again and once again he re-appeared bearing bad news. The port was still closed, but the weather was improving, and to come back at 2pm when they thought there was a chance the port would be re-opened. We could see the weather was improving as the ocean, which was filled with white-horses when we arrived, the waves breaking as far out as we could see, was now almost mill-pond calm. As we still had time to wait and do the boat-trip and still get back to the hotel before the time fort the group quiz, we agreed to wait and went in search of lunch. As I wasn't hungry I abstained, and was very glad I did as the meals the others got looked terrible. And so we waited another hour, passing the time any way we could.
Just before 2pm we wandered back to where Popeye was checking on the boat situation and this time he emerged with a big grin and thumbs-up... we would be going in 10 minutes! The relief was quickly replaced by child-like excitement as we put on our life-jackets, and Simon put on a rather attractive poncho (the rest of us brought our bike waterproofs)... he looked like one of Santa's helpers...
We boarded the boat and it was pushed back into the ocean, then the engines started and we left the trailer behind and headed out into open water. The excitement was reaching fever pitch, Julia sat next to me smiling broadly and repeating “we're going to see some whales” over and over again. What happened next will remain in my memory for ever as one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. First, we caught sight of a whale just off the starboard bow (the right side and where I was sat), then the captain switched the engines off and we glided closer. Just as we got within 30 feet of where we'd seen the whale, a huge mother and her calf surfaced, blowing spray from their blowholes just a few yards from our boat...
The mood on the boat changed in that instant, from child-like exuberance to quiet awe. Everyone on board was entranced by these wonderful creatures, who seemed completely unfazed by our presence. Rather than swim away, they decided to play a while, swimming close to the boat, surfacing and putting on a display for us. The mother kept moving the calf closer, encouraging her offspring to explore our boat, and whilst for the most part they avoided any actual contact, they did bump into us gently once or twice. It's impossible for me to describe quite how humbling an experience it was to watch this display of nature at its finest for over half an hour, so I'll once again let just a few of the countless pictures I took paint the scene (captions available by hovering over each image)...
The display was magical but it had to end at some stage and finally mother and calf submerged and swam off. As they did, the chatter in the boat returned as everyone tried to share their personal experiences with each other at once. Quite simply stunning...
We then set off into deeper water where we hoped to see some more whales, but as the season is coming to an end – the Souther Right Whales come to this area to breed and leave in early December – there were not many about. We did get sight of one more, a lone youngster heading back out into the deep ocean, travelling at a fair old pace, the tail emerging from the water as it dived deeper to gain speed, affording me my one chance to capture that iconic image... and I almost got it too...
Finally it was time to turn round and head towards the shore, stopping briefly to admire the shape of the rock that gives Puerto Pyramid its name and to see where the sea lions breed (which in turn attracts the whales, including Orcas). There was only one sea-lion there today, a huge great big fella fast asleep on a rock... remind you of anyone?
Back on shore we wandered back to where Popeye was waiting, our smiles revealing the success of the trip, and handed back the life-jackets. I don't recall much of the journey back to town as I fell asleep, as did the rest of the group, exhausted from being outside in the fresh air and sunshine and mentally drained by the whale-watching. Once back at the hotel I had just half an hour to load up yesterday's blog and have a quick chat with Tracy before heading down to the bar area for the “Globebusters Trans-Am 2009 Quiz”...
With teams allocated randomly (I was teamed up with Jim and Ed) the quiz comprised some 40 questions ranging from “what was the name of the town we stayed in after this picture?” to “what were the names of the people who didn't do the naked swim in the Arctic?”. Some, like “how many golf balls could the world's largest truck carry?” were clearly designed to identify those in the group with anally-retentive memories... I was pleasantly surprised by how many I could answer, as I was prevented from referring to my blog and my memory is terrible. And we didn't come last. Just. I think someone wasn't counting up correctly, but that's probably because I don't like losing... The girls team won, no surprise really as they had Lorraine and she is a mine of interesting facts about everywhere we go (we often refer to “Lorraining it” as opposed to “Googling”). With the quiz over we went out for dinner, a quiet affair as we were still tired from the boat trip. A plate of curried prawns (don't get excited, in these parts “curry” means very slightly flavoured with very mild curry powder) and a bottle of Aqua sin gas (water). See, a dry day. And a relatively early night too...
Tomorrow is the start of the final 3 days riding to Buenos Aires... it's all getting a little bit emotional...
posted by Paul # 23:40 
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