A Touching Moment
This morning began as a usual Monday here at the labs. I rolled out of bed and stumbled to breakfast, half asleep and hungry as always. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and it reflected off of the water in the harbor. After breakfast, I meandered back to S1, preparing my mind for the arduous, yet thoroughly interesting day ahead. The syllabus hinted that we would be diving in the realm of bioacoustics which I worried would be saturated with physics, a subject that most days just goes right over my head. Class began shortly, and it didn’t take long for those physics terms to start popping up. A few hours ticked past and it was nearing 11:00 am. We were diligently listening to Scott lecture on sound waves, when Robin made a sudden, dramatic exit from the room. She hurried out the door and disappeared, only to scurry back inside ten minutes later shouting, “There are orcas in Friday Harbor!” I have never seen eight people drop everything so fast. Laptops and notebooks were flying through the air as we ran excitedly out of S1 and down toward the harbor. It was as if our lives depended on seeing these whales. My heart was beating so fast, I hardly noticed the treacherous rocks we sprinted over to spot the whales. As we reached the edge of the island, what looked like four orcas could be seen swimming North out of Friday Harbor. Among the blows and the dives, I caught glimpses of a juvenile whale with the others. Words cannot express how utterly and deeply I was affected by my first sighting of these amazing creatures, the killer whales. They only took a short time to be out of our visual range, but they will forever be imprinted in my memories. What a grand day!
Orcas in Friday Harbor!!!!
Watching the Whales
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