i'm a whale watcher

I can't believe this is where I live.  


Karl and the kids have spotted whales several times since we moved into this house.  I haven't seen any.  Too impatient to wait for them to come up, I guess.

We were scheduled to go on a whale watching ride for my birthday.  But sickness and then later, a much bigger deal, the tsunami warnings kept us home. 

The following Monday the conditions were perfect and we went.  My friend, Ani, was so sweet and offered to watch little (well, ok, big) Maximus.  In fact, she made the whole day possible.  Like, I said, sweet, right?

 Though this photo may not show the excitement, my kids had a blast.  They look a little sleepy here because we had to get up at six to get there and the ride was six hours.  I love this candid shot of my family.  And it shows my jacket that my sister sent me for my birthday.  I love it.  I didn't have a light jacket so I had been sporting this grey cardigan sweater to the beach.


 All of these photos were taken by the on board camera guy/crew man/entertainment, Erik.  Imagine having Ray Romano on board.  It was like that, except he took photos, served snacks, kept us safe, AND knew all about the ocean.  The captain, Chris, who very much looked like Easy Rider, made finding whales and dolphins seems so simple. 

We rode on a Zodiac raft, the kind that the coast guard uses.  Almost immediately we were surrounded by dolphins.  The captain knew just how to play up every dream that anyone might have about being surrounded by these beautiful creatures and put on some Sarah McLachlan.

The Napali Coast was beautiful.  And the history was so interesting.  

 These birds are called Boobies.  And the happy old guy in the back corner of the boat was so thrilled to tell Samuel, "Now you can say you've seen some Boobies!"  as his wife threw him dirty looks.

  

 It seems that there were many mommy and baby whales that day.  Funny, it made me miss Maximus.  

 If there is one word I would use to describe these whales it would be majestic.  

  If, by chance, you come to Kauai, I totally recommend Napali Riders.  It is something that my family will remember forever.  

Here are some of the snapshots that we took:

 Samuel, while making all of us nervous, was very comfortable on the boat.

 And Eva is one very lucky girl, if for any reason, just because she got to do the back float in the middle of the ocean with her daddy.

This ended up being a beautiful day and a beautiful adventure, tucked into my file of beautiful memories...