Day 6 - Saturday, 12th February 2011
Today has been the best day of my life so far!! I'm so excited! It's been so wonderful! I'm bursting with 'stuff' and I can't go to bed because my mind is in over-drive!! I'm feeling really emotional and it's quite difficult to write at all!
I got up even earlier this morning, had a shower and was ready to face the day! It's still dark at that time (about 4.45am), but quite beautiful. I can't believe I'm getting up this early - usually only a dire emergency will drag me from my bed at that time. But, I don't want to miss a thing and it's all so wonderful! I can always catch up on sleep when I get home!
I had a coffee ( we've all got our own mugs with Gray Whales on them by the way) and went outside to catch some pre-dawn air. All the stars were still out and one of my fellow passengers, David, informed me that my star sign's (Scorpio) constellation is prominent in the sky at the moment. I'm sure that's significant somehow!! I got chatting to David and his partner Karin last night. They're a lovely couple. She's German, so I was pre-disposed to like her and he's from Northern Ireland originally. However, they both lived in Canada for a while, so both have these weird accents which are sometimes German (her), sometimes Northern Irish(him) with this strange Canadian twang! Co-incidentally, Karin is a Social Worker in Mental Health so does a very similar job to me!
It was nice spending quiet time outside in the early hours when there are only a few people up and about.
I had some toast and a banana for my breakfast today. Absolutely no sign of sea-sickness, just excitedness!!
We entered the San Ignacio Lagoon fairly early and moored up at a suitable spot. We saw whales around and about straight away and I, for one, couldn't wait to get in amongst them. I suspect that most of my fellow voyagers felt that way too!
We were taken out to see the whales by some of the local fishermen in their small fishing boats called Pangas. This ensures that contact with the whales is controlled and the fishermen are able to earn some money during the whale breeding season.
The gray whale mothers and their calves come to investigate the boats and often the mothers nudge their calves towards the boats so that you can touch them. We went out twice today and had some really close encounters, although I didn't quite get to touch one. I took some pictures, but I was so excited for most of the time, that I forgot my camera was there as I just wanted to absorb the experience. It was pretty overwhelming and I became very emotional. When we finally returned to the boat in the afternoon, JP (I'm sure that's it, although I still keep wanting to call him PJ) asked me how it had been and I told him I couldn't talk about it! I really couldn't, though. I had to go and have a quiet moment to myself outside on the front of the ship listening to my music because it all seemed too surreal to be true. I still feel like I'm in a dream and I'll wake up in a minute and I'll be back in real-life!
In the evening there was even an adult Gray Whale outside nudging our ship!! We had another lovely dinner tonight and another fascinating lecture.
I told Rachel that today had been the best day of my life and she thought that was great and bought me and some others a beer to celebrate! We had a great evening and I got chatting to a few of the other passengers properly including Trish and Leslie and Sonya and Tony.
Tomorrow we have another whole day here in the lagoon - I can't wait! It's so beautiful here and it was wonderful sitting out again listening to my music after dark! Rachel sat with me for a while and we star-gazed and put the world to rights!!
I hope I get to touch a whale tomorrow ( how many times will I get to say that in my life??!)
Today has been the best day of my life so far!! I'm so excited! It's been so wonderful! I'm bursting with 'stuff' and I can't go to bed because my mind is in over-drive!! I'm feeling really emotional and it's quite difficult to write at all!
I got up even earlier this morning, had a shower and was ready to face the day! It's still dark at that time (about 4.45am), but quite beautiful. I can't believe I'm getting up this early - usually only a dire emergency will drag me from my bed at that time. But, I don't want to miss a thing and it's all so wonderful! I can always catch up on sleep when I get home!
I had a coffee ( we've all got our own mugs with Gray Whales on them by the way) and went outside to catch some pre-dawn air. All the stars were still out and one of my fellow passengers, David, informed me that my star sign's (Scorpio) constellation is prominent in the sky at the moment. I'm sure that's significant somehow!! I got chatting to David and his partner Karin last night. They're a lovely couple. She's German, so I was pre-disposed to like her and he's from Northern Ireland originally. However, they both lived in Canada for a while, so both have these weird accents which are sometimes German (her), sometimes Northern Irish(him) with this strange Canadian twang! Co-incidentally, Karin is a Social Worker in Mental Health so does a very similar job to me!
It was nice spending quiet time outside in the early hours when there are only a few people up and about.
I had some toast and a banana for my breakfast today. Absolutely no sign of sea-sickness, just excitedness!!
We entered the San Ignacio Lagoon fairly early and moored up at a suitable spot. We saw whales around and about straight away and I, for one, couldn't wait to get in amongst them. I suspect that most of my fellow voyagers felt that way too!
We were taken out to see the whales by some of the local fishermen in their small fishing boats called Pangas. This ensures that contact with the whales is controlled and the fishermen are able to earn some money during the whale breeding season.
The gray whale mothers and their calves come to investigate the boats and often the mothers nudge their calves towards the boats so that you can touch them. We went out twice today and had some really close encounters, although I didn't quite get to touch one. I took some pictures, but I was so excited for most of the time, that I forgot my camera was there as I just wanted to absorb the experience. It was pretty overwhelming and I became very emotional. When we finally returned to the boat in the afternoon, JP (I'm sure that's it, although I still keep wanting to call him PJ) asked me how it had been and I told him I couldn't talk about it! I really couldn't, though. I had to go and have a quiet moment to myself outside on the front of the ship listening to my music because it all seemed too surreal to be true. I still feel like I'm in a dream and I'll wake up in a minute and I'll be back in real-life!
In the evening there was even an adult Gray Whale outside nudging our ship!! We had another lovely dinner tonight and another fascinating lecture.
I told Rachel that today had been the best day of my life and she thought that was great and bought me and some others a beer to celebrate! We had a great evening and I got chatting to a few of the other passengers properly including Trish and Leslie and Sonya and Tony.
Tomorrow we have another whole day here in the lagoon - I can't wait! It's so beautiful here and it was wonderful sitting out again listening to my music after dark! Rachel sat with me for a while and we star-gazed and put the world to rights!!
I hope I get to touch a whale tomorrow ( how many times will I get to say that in my life??!)
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