whale watching

apparently there are blue whales off the central coast of california right now, so brad and i hightail it to a whale watching tour because blue whales are rarely seen in the wild. we spend three hours and see quite a few humpback whales, but the elusive big blue is nowhere to be found. and suddenly, on our way back to the bay, a blue whale materializes right in front of our boat. he is so close you can see the mottled color of his skin. it is incredibly exhilarating, and nearly impossible to describe how grotesquely huge this animal is. and then he's gone.

on the way out and back i asked so many questions of our tour guide that he told me i should look into becoming a tour guide because i seemed so interested (and because i knew so much already). i hope he meant it as a compliment, because that is how i interpreted it.