Yeah I know, I don't belong in 5th grade but I couldn't wait for Alex to have Mrs. Hatland for a teacher for many reasons. Two of them being that, shes a great teacher. She still has that drive to make the kids have fun while they are learning. Not the "same ole same ole" kind of teacher. And secondly, she takes the kids on the best field trip ever! They get to go whale watching! I love the ocean and its creatures so of course I put a word in with Mrs. Hatland at the beginning of the year. So on March 18th, we went to find some whales.
We were on the boat for over an hour looking out amongst the waves, spotting seals, otters, birds everything except whales when finally I saw something jump out of the water and I yelled "LOOK!" pointing out to the right side of the boat...sorry I have no idea if its starboard or whatnot. What we saw was both kind of creepy and facinating. There had to be HUNDREDS of dolphins coming towards our boat all at once and from every direction. I only say creepy cuz I've seen the Jaw's movies once too many times in my life and I pictured us out on the ocean in this teeny tiny boat with all these creatures acending on us all at once and well, it freaked me out for a second. But then the kids were screeching, yes the boys and the girls, with such happiness at the sight of the dolphins along side of the boat, jumping through the water where they could practically touch them that I forgot that creepy feeling. You'll see in some of the pictures here.
After 1/2 hour of dolphins, I spotted the first whale sighting. And yes I did the customary "Thar she blows!" as instructed by the captian of the boat. There was a pod of 5 or 6 whales all together. They allowed us to follow them for quite some time. I only wish they would have come closer to us. The laws say the boat must stay at least 100 feet away for the whales protection. Thank goodness I have a great lens on my camera. Even though they were still somewhat far away, you couldn't help but feel how huge they were. I actually didn't return to that creepy feeling but I was definately in awe by their massive sizes.
We ate our lunches on the boat looking for more whales and other sea life for a lil while longer until it was time to go back to land and school. We only had 5 kids get sea sick which is a low record according to Mrs. Hatland. But even those kids were still able to have a great time. I we will have to do this again with the family!
We were on the boat for over an hour looking out amongst the waves, spotting seals, otters, birds everything except whales when finally I saw something jump out of the water and I yelled "LOOK!" pointing out to the right side of the boat...sorry I have no idea if its starboard or whatnot. What we saw was both kind of creepy and facinating. There had to be HUNDREDS of dolphins coming towards our boat all at once and from every direction. I only say creepy cuz I've seen the Jaw's movies once too many times in my life and I pictured us out on the ocean in this teeny tiny boat with all these creatures acending on us all at once and well, it freaked me out for a second. But then the kids were screeching, yes the boys and the girls, with such happiness at the sight of the dolphins along side of the boat, jumping through the water where they could practically touch them that I forgot that creepy feeling. You'll see in some of the pictures here.
After 1/2 hour of dolphins, I spotted the first whale sighting. And yes I did the customary "Thar she blows!" as instructed by the captian of the boat. There was a pod of 5 or 6 whales all together. They allowed us to follow them for quite some time. I only wish they would have come closer to us. The laws say the boat must stay at least 100 feet away for the whales protection. Thank goodness I have a great lens on my camera. Even though they were still somewhat far away, you couldn't help but feel how huge they were. I actually didn't return to that creepy feeling but I was definately in awe by their massive sizes.
We ate our lunches on the boat looking for more whales and other sea life for a lil while longer until it was time to go back to land and school. We only had 5 kids get sea sick which is a low record according to Mrs. Hatland. But even those kids were still able to have a great time. I we will have to do this again with the family!
