The Whales of Washington - A whale of a time

On Wednesday I met my first grey whale, although this was not really how I imagined my first encounter with a US whale would be, he had been dead for 8 weeks and was laying on a beach. We were asked to come and help out de-flesh it and collect the bones. This baby whale washed up, already dead, on a coast that is part of a reservation. That means the land is owned by an Native Indian tribe. The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe includes multiple different tribe decedents, like the Willapa Chinook, Lower Chehalis and Willapa Hills people. These tribes lived mostly of what the oceans provided so fishing, shellfish culture & hunting is rooted deeply into their culture. Because this whale washed up on their land, it is theirs to keep. We collected the bones which will be cleaned by the local Aquarium and then returned to the tribe to use in ceremonial ways like carvings. So our part was just to get the bones out… And oh men, that was something else. I have some experience with dissecting dead whales, but not when there have been dead for 8 weeks and where just rotting on a beach. It was more like a whale soup. The smell was awful! Every now and then me & the other interns had to take a few breaths of fresh air so we would not throw up our breakfast. But it was also interesting to see these huge vertebra, ribs & intestine. Not something I will forget anytime soon (including the smell). Photos and videos are on my camera, but I cannot get them off at this time. So they will be available later, only for those of you with a strong stomach ;)

Luckily on Friday we went to check out some live whales! :D we drove over 2,5 hours to Port Angeles to join the Island Explorer Whale Watching company. A completely flat sea, sunshine and nice personal, gave us all the right conditions to see some whales. And we did. In total we saw 7 humpback whales! It was amazing. At one point a whale came up right in front of the boat, only 15 meters away from us, as we were sitting on the bow of the boat. When I see a humpback that close there is always the realisation again how big these marine mammals are. I mean, I know how big they are, but it keeps on amazing me. We even end up seeing a special kind of behaviour,  flick feeding. Where they use their tail flukes to push fish or krill together and then lunge into the dense ball of food with their big mouths. I never saw humpback whales feeding before and it was a very spectacular site. The guys of the whale watching tour also never witnessed this behaviour, as only a few whales in this area master this flick feeding technique.

I know that cetacean research is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. I have known that for so many years and it is not changing. Sometimes it literally feels like a little fire inside that can only be fuelled up to lighten my life. There are many hours of office work ahead, and some of it will be boring and frustrating, but to be here working on my future can only make me happier. After Indonesia, Tenerife, Wales, South-Africa, Australia, New-Zealand I can now also put the American cetaceans on my check list! Check out the photos in the album with the same name.