Written By Holly Yates
As my first week at Cetacealab goes by I watch the weather move across the water towards the lab. The rain rolls in, the wind rocks the lab and the visibility becomes extremely poor! With the rainy weather the whales seem to disappear. I like to think that they only come out on sunny clear warm days but I know realistically that those whales are out there I just can’t see them!
With the lack of whale sightings I learn about a whole new concept connected to whale research, it is what Carol calls the ‘no blow blues!’ The no blow blues is what happens to everyone in the lab when no one has seen or heard from a whale for a lengthy period of time. What are the behaviors associated with the no blow blues? The person experiencing these blues looks longingly through binoculars, wanders listlessly from window to window looking, hoping for some sign of something on the horizon and does what I like to call the ‘pee pee dance’. This is the dance one does when they have to go to the bathroom but refuses to go for fear of missing something! The most important behavior to note as a sign of the no blow blues is mass consumption of chocolate and chocolate chip cookies, really anything with the word chocolate in it is consumed.
I decide to try to break up the no blow blues by taking a walk to the creek although, I am a little nervous about missing something I go anyways. On my way out the door I put on my rain gear and rubber boots, I grab some chocolate, hit the outhouse and call Cohen the resident puppy and we hit the trail. As we climb the trail to the creek Cohen waits patiently for me as I regularly find myself stuck in the mud up to my knees as I struggle up the hillside. As we near the creek I am suddenly struck by the beauty of The Great Bear Rainforest. The varying shades of green in this forest are stunning. The richness and density of the forest seems to wrap itself around me like a comfortable cozy blanket. With each step forward I sink into a carpet of moss and foliage. The no blow blues seem to lift little by little.
When I arrive at the creek I think this is no creek this is a class 5 rapids situation! I cling to Cohen’s collar for fear that he may fall into this raging river that used to be a creek. No fear of running out of water down at house. Thank you Mother Earth for providing us with everything we need!
Upon returning from the walk I settle in for another shift of scanning the horizon every 20 minutes in hopes of discovering some sort of blow. As my scan shift nears its end and I have continually wrote ‘nothing to report’ on the data sheet. The no blow blues set in once again. I sit at the computer, sad and blue, and begin to enter my ‘nothing to report’ data into the computer. Suddenly the door crashes open (later I check to make sure the door hinges are still intact) and all I see is the blur of Hermann’s orange sweater run by. He is yelling, “Did you guys see the whale, it just surfaced beside the mooring buoy!”
At this point it’s all hands on deck! Everyone in the lab dashes outside into the rain onto the deck waiting anxiously for the surfacing of the humpback whale. I am holding my breath bursting with anticipation. And there she is! She surfaces approximately 35 feet away from where I stand. She blows dives and flukes, spectacular! The sheer enormity of the humpback whale is incredible and the size of the blow holes – WOW! Hermann takes an impressive photo of her fluke, it is beautiful. We later find her in the catalogue. Her name is Loner because she is almost always seen alone. She first arrived at the North Coast feeding grounds in 2008 and has continued to return. Loner will always be my favorite humpback whale because she was my first close up humpback whale sighting.
I thought not much could top the visit from Loner the humpback whale but Mike’s famous Calzone for dinner came close, it was super delicious! Thanks Mike. Highlight of the day, the elimination of the no blow blues!
The days have changed since this last entry, there are no more blow blues happening at Whale Point as 2 mother and calf fin whales have us in work mode. We are just getting ready to go our on the boat as we can see even more blows in the distance. We will let you know later how it all goes!
We also will be posting a few times a day on Face Book, our name there is Whale Point so please join us there for in the moment whale reports.
