Whales and more whales

Today we saw a blue and two fin whales, yesterday we saw a blue, Friday we saw a blue, and the weekend before that I helped break our unlucky whale-less week. Captain Greg called me his lucky charm for helping them break the streak... little did he know I caused it a week earlier.

And... we've seen plenty of dolphins! Here are some pictures of dolphins I took today. I will put up more and more pictures as I bring them home from the aquarium. I have some awesome pictures of blue whale flukes from yesterday, and plenty of other cool ones.

Whee!

And here's a few stories:
There were a couple of boys asking me difficult questions on the cruise last weekend: "How do boats float if they're so heavy?" While, technically, I know the answer (displacement), it's something I've never fully understood myself. "How come sailboats don't tip over even though they lean over so far?" Ok, I know that one for sure, but come ON boys! This isn't a Physics Watching Tour! Ask me some questions about whales!

The woman who walked up to me at the beginning of one cruise and just said, "I don't like people." Then she walked away.

The whale watching expert who, after describing almost every whale watching tour she's been on in the last 30 years ("since 1978!"), decided to ask us typical tourist questions (with a sarcastic smile, so it's ok!): "How do you know it's a girl?" (In response to us pointing whales out by saying "There she blows!"), "How do you find the whales? Do you call them?", etc.

Here's a whale I never saw, but it's a great photo, courtesy of National Geographic:

A dwarf minke whale. (Full size here.)