There Be Whales Here!

Aye, Captain. There be many a whale off the Kona coast today! And I got to see them in action! Whoopie! Three off us (hubby, a friend, and me) decided we were ready for a day off and played "tourist", booking seats on Dan McSweeney's whale watch boat. I've been on his tour close to a dozen times now and highly recommend it. 

(A classic humpback whale breach! I didn't take this photo....it is from Dan McSweeney's website.)

(Dan's boat.)

A beautiful day in paradise...sun, warm, breezy, seas active but not rough. Even if we didn't seen one whale, it would have been a relaxing three hour boat ride. But see whales we did! 

(Whale tail, that last thing you see whale the whale dives deep.)

Leaving the harbor we promptly came upon a whale. It proved to be a good omen. Passing that whale by Dan headed for the sanctuary area up the coast. Here and there in the distance we kept spotting whale blowspouts, whales coming up for a breath. Once in the sanctuary, we come upon one whale group after the other. Whale here. 7+ whales there. Now two. Next four. Then 6. Whale tail. Another whale tail. Flippers. Backs. More whales! It's the first time I've ever been on a trip and thought, "Oh hum, another whale." 

Occasionally I'd whip out my camera to take a photo, but in the bright sun I couldn't see what I was pointing at. Once back on land I discovered that 90% of my shots were the back of hubby's head!!!!!

Just when I thought the trip was over, we came upon another group of whales, most likely young males flexing their testosterone. One whale breech, another, three, four in a row!!! Lots of flipper flapping. Flipper smacking. More half body breeching. And the grande finale? A full jump just exactly like the full body breech in the top picture. Magnificent! Incredible! There's no way to describe how amazing it was to watch. 

Sometimes the whales were a bit of a distance away. Other times the whales would surface only 400-500 feet from the boat. What a day! 

Back on shore and hungry, we headed for a well hidden fish market in the harbor area. They have the best fresh fish lunches, bar none. Not permitted to extend their little fish shack selling store in order to add a restaurant, they got around the building regs by using lots very large sun umbrellas, some of which are not in conjunction with a table but just fill in a gap in the "roof". It works and its funky.  I love it. But the fish meals are the main draw. Really good. 

Fresh fish tacos. They are famous for these. 

I opted for the catch of the day ruben sandwich. The fish? Ahi (aka: tuna). I'm not an ahi lover, but if its really fresh, then I'll go for it. And this was super fresh! I have to say that this was the best ruben I have ever had. It's was so good that I plan to abandon my usual fish tacos and stick with the ruben for now on. The taste and texture was exquisite. 

If I were a wealthy person, I'd be out on a boat several times a week. It was great.