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RUT 7 – It has been about a month now since my last RUT, and it is about time for me to write again. I had the coolest experience yesterday, and I have to write about it. It is certainly a once in a lifetime experience. Anyway, I am in Southern Mexico right now, in a town called Haultulco, on the Pacific Ocean. My brother, some friends of his and I flew down to Oaxaca last Friday.
We spent Friday night and Saturday in Oaxaca where we went to Monte Alban, an ancient Indian ruin. We left Oaxaca on Sunday morning and drove down to Hualtulco. It is about an eight hour drive through the mountains to get from Oaxaca to Hualtulco. Oaxaca is at about 4800 feet above sea level, and it is desert-like this time of the year. We climbed to over 8,000 feet where it was green, and cloudy. Then we went down towards the ocean, and at about 6,000 feet we went into a very green jungle. Then at about 2,000 feet we were back into the desert. The coast line is very brown right now because we are at the end of the dry season. It was the windiest road I have been on in my life. For those of you who have been to San Francisco, picture six hours of Lombard Street. Anyway, one of us, who shall not be named, left his breakfast on the side of the road on our way up the hill. His lunch was later deposited on the downside of the hill. I have pictures of it, but I thought they were too graphic for the site.
Anyway, the reason for the RUT. We went out deep sea fishing yesterday, and then over to a secluded cove where we went snorkeling. After we finished snorkeling, we were on our way back to the docks when the captain of the boat said he saw a whale about 400 yards ahead of us. First, you have to remember that we were in a boat that is about 20 feet long and seats about eight people. It is not a big boat. Anyway, we took off toward where the captain saw the whale, and then we stopped and waited.
We sat for about a minute or two with me sitting on the bow of the boat with my camera at the ready. All of the sudden, no more then ten feet in front of me, a humpback whale came head first out of the water, and looked me right in the eye before doing a complete belly flop right along side of the boat. I held the shutter of the camera down, but he was too close, so the camera couldn’t focus on him in time, and I didn’t get a picture, but as soon as I saw he was going to come back down in a belly flop, I quickly put my camera behind me, and it was lucky I did, because it was like a wall of water coming over me, and I was soaked from head to toe by the splash. It was only a baby humpback, which was good, because otherwise our boat would have been swamped. Even though it was a baby, it had to have come out of the water by at least ten feet, and it had to have been about as long as the boat.
After he soaked us, he swam off to his mother, and I did get some pictures of him and his mom swimming away. It was certainly the experience of a lifetime.
Today is Tuesday, and we went scuba diving today. We saw a ton of great sea life, including a bunch of manta rays and some moray eels.
Later…
We spent Friday night and Saturday in Oaxaca where we went to Monte Alban, an ancient Indian ruin. We left Oaxaca on Sunday morning and drove down to Hualtulco. It is about an eight hour drive through the mountains to get from Oaxaca to Hualtulco. Oaxaca is at about 4800 feet above sea level, and it is desert-like this time of the year. We climbed to over 8,000 feet where it was green, and cloudy. Then we went down towards the ocean, and at about 6,000 feet we went into a very green jungle. Then at about 2,000 feet we were back into the desert. The coast line is very brown right now because we are at the end of the dry season. It was the windiest road I have been on in my life. For those of you who have been to San Francisco, picture six hours of Lombard Street. Anyway, one of us, who shall not be named, left his breakfast on the side of the road on our way up the hill. His lunch was later deposited on the downside of the hill. I have pictures of it, but I thought they were too graphic for the site.
Anyway, the reason for the RUT. We went out deep sea fishing yesterday, and then over to a secluded cove where we went snorkeling. After we finished snorkeling, we were on our way back to the docks when the captain of the boat said he saw a whale about 400 yards ahead of us. First, you have to remember that we were in a boat that is about 20 feet long and seats about eight people. It is not a big boat. Anyway, we took off toward where the captain saw the whale, and then we stopped and waited.
We sat for about a minute or two with me sitting on the bow of the boat with my camera at the ready. All of the sudden, no more then ten feet in front of me, a humpback whale came head first out of the water, and looked me right in the eye before doing a complete belly flop right along side of the boat. I held the shutter of the camera down, but he was too close, so the camera couldn’t focus on him in time, and I didn’t get a picture, but as soon as I saw he was going to come back down in a belly flop, I quickly put my camera behind me, and it was lucky I did, because it was like a wall of water coming over me, and I was soaked from head to toe by the splash. It was only a baby humpback, which was good, because otherwise our boat would have been swamped. Even though it was a baby, it had to have come out of the water by at least ten feet, and it had to have been about as long as the boat.
After he soaked us, he swam off to his mother, and I did get some pictures of him and his mom swimming away. It was certainly the experience of a lifetime.
Today is Tuesday, and we went scuba diving today. We saw a ton of great sea life, including a bunch of manta rays and some moray eels.
Later…
4 comments:
WOW! I love seeing whales. I think that was the best part of Hawaii for me. That's so neat you are having great experiences. I hope it wasn't you that lost his cookies. When you were talking about getting car sick I was thinking back to the ride back from ice fishing and got a little caught up ewwww....
Well you went fishing and didn't write about any fish. sounds like you got skunked. The whale story was just an attempt to change the subject. I'm on to you.
Hey, I didn't receive any of your pictures. What have you been up too? Work has been continual. Nothing to uncontrollable. Miss you love.
WOW is right! I've only seen whales off the shore of WA state. It sounds like a wonderful trip.
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