We were on a boat, and...

The one thing we most looked forward to on this trip was our whale watching tour, which we scheduled for Monday morning on July 4. Before we knew about Bogdan's project in San Francisco, and before he had received his citizenship, we assumed our trip this year had to be domestic and we decided we would most likely go to Massachusetts and do a whale watching tour. Obviously our plans changed, but when we found out you could see whales year round right out of San Francisco bay in the Gulf of Farralones, we signed up.

I read the reviews of this particular trip and saw that they fell in either one of these two categories: absolutely loved it and best time ever; or hated it because I got sea sick. I think it's very unfair to rate a tour company poorly based on that fact alone, but that's a whole separate conversation. I read on their site and in the reviews that if you want to enjoy the trip, take a Dramamine pill before, just in case. I went back and forth on this - on one hand I've been on my fair share of boats and never got sick, however I've never really been in the Pacific Ocean (or any ocean) on a boat, and I also sometimes experience mild discomfort on curvy mountain roads (like Highway 1) when I'm not driving. So I made up my mind to take a pill before and I convinced Bogdan to do the same (does that make me a pill pusher?).

We arrived at Pier 39 promptly at 7:30 a.m. and met our naturalist, Reece, who told us about the whales they had seen yesterday, about growing up in North Carolina, and how he just loves living in San Francisco. At 8 we boarded the boat and had a safety talk from our captain. We learned that we'd be riding about 2 hours out to his personal "whale hot spots" and that meanwhile we should just enjoy the ride. We pulled out into the bay toward the Golden Gate Bridge and the views were astounding. Once we got farther away, the ocean was choppy and the swells large. They had told us before that the best way to combat sea sickness is to be out of the cabin, standing, and staring at the horizon. Bogdan and I were fine - a few others on the boat were not. Probably not even an hour in we already had some sick people.

The bright shining sun disappeared, the boat sped up, and the ride got wet and cold. Finally the boat slowed and the captain said that he noticed bird activity (can I just say how cool and strange it was to see a bunch of birds so far away from the coast), which is usually a good sign that whales are nearby because they eat similar fish. I'm standing at the rail, holding on despite the fact that my cold exposed hand would much rather be in my pocket, and just looking, staring. Nothing.

Every once in a while someone nearby would gasp. point. I'd look. And nothing. The captain had spotted a few whales so he stopped the boat and let us up front (it was blocked during the trip so he could navigate). They told us to always hold onto a rail. It was obvious why when a wave 10 feet tall and breaking would rise us up, up, up, and then - plop! - drop us down. I still hadn't seen one whale. Bogdan had the camera and was standing near Reece and told me to come stand by them. I slowly and carefully made my way over.

That's when I first saw the glassy black skin and fin skim the top of the water. Reece told us they were humpback whales, and our captain said they were surrounding the boat. And about a dozen or so did. They swam up to us, under the boat, showed us their tails, played in the huge waves. And it felt like they were more curious about us than we them. It was surreal. Right before we had to head back to the bay, Reece came out of the cabin and told Bogdan and me that he was so glad to see people smiling - that's when we realized that about 15 sick people were completely missing this.

We turned around and started the ride to the bay. This was when I got uncomfortable. I knew the Dramamine lasted 4-6 hours, so I had Bogdan get me another pill. I went to the side of the boat - just in case - and stood looking at the horizon repeating in my head, "it's not inevitable that you will get sick. You are fine." The pill must have kicked in because relief just came all over me and I joined Bogdan by the cabin door for the remainder of the ride.

Arriving in the bay was like night and day - the waters calmed down, the clouds disappeared, and the bright sun welcomed us back to San Francisco.

 

If you're interested, our tour group was the San Francisco Whale Tours.