We went whale watching off the south shore on Sunday and it was absolutely fabulous- even if we hadn't seen any whales,spending 6 hours on the ocean was a great way to spend the day. We came across 3 different pods of whales- one with three, the others were in pairs. Apparently more than 8,000 humpback whales make their way past Bermuda between March and April but unfortunately they do not seem to travel in packs and finding them seemed like it was going to be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. After about 3.5 hours we had our first sign of the elusive whales- the geyser like spray in the distance that comes from the blowhole. After we found the first pair, finding more of them was relatively easy. Taking good pictures of them was a whole other story. Between the rocking motion of the boat and the amazing speed that these whales move makes it pretty hard to capture good images, Thank goodness for digital as we had a ton of pictures that eneded up with just ocean or the sky, no sign of the whales we thought we were getting pictures of. They were quite playful and hung around the boat for quite some time. These things are huge- our boat was 50 feet long and these whales are between 40 and 45 feet long. We managed to get quite close on several occasions and it really was a thrill of a lifetime. We also saw our first signs of spring on the island which is the return of the longtail to Bermuda shores, turtles all over the place and the flying fish put on a pretty good show for most of the day as well.
This Friday being Good Friday is a holiday here with a twist. Everyone flies a kite and so we are going to go down to Horseshoe Bay where the skies will be full of color and also enjoy festivities including live bands and food. Before that we are going to a similar function at Riddells Bay ( kite flying and BBQ) so should have some neat pictures to share later in the week.
