Whale Watching

On our third morning in Guayaquil, we boarded a bus for what was advertised as a 90 minute drive to Salinas, where we’d board a boat and head out to watch for Humpback Whales. In reality the ride turned out to be closer to 2 ½ hours than 1 ½, but because Emma Marie was also on this trip, the ride wasn’t a problem for our Emma Caroline. Emma Marie’s mom was back at the ship with her turn as duty dean, so that meant our girls could sit together for the journey. En route to Salinas, they sat across the aisle from Oscar, Emma Marie’s dad, and they sat a couple rows behind us on the return trip. When we finally arrived in Salinas, we donned lifejackets and then boarded tiny boats to take us to the tour company’s boat for Whale Watching. The swells ranged from four to six feet high on our five-mile ride out from the western most point of Ecuador. Thankfully, I’d already taken one seasickness pill that morning, and Wade had brought me another on the trip. Several weren’t as fortunate. It’s mating season for the Humpbacked Whales, so we knew we wouldn’t see them jumping out into the air. Our guides told us if we were lucky we’d see one or two whales surfacing for air. Several minutes after we’d reached our five-mile point, we saw the first blow erupting from the surface. This happens just seconds before part of the whale becomes visible. We’d found three traveling together and had many opportunities to watch them coming up for air and then diving down again. They’d surface a few times before diving down and we knew the deep dives were about to occur when we got a complete tail view. AMAZING. Once this happened and the whale disappeared, it would be between four and six minutes before we’d see the next blow erupt. I’m posting a favorite photo. I chose it because you can see a whale’s tail next to a blow erupting from another whale. After about an hour of watching the whales surface and dive, we headed back to shore and lunch at a local restaurant. We had ceviche (seafood cooked by the juices of lemons or limes and served as a cool soup) as an appetizer and then a choice between breaded chicken (sort of a cordon bleu) and seafood in cream sauce. We’re really getting spoiled in the fresh seafood department!