Day 11 Whale encounter

Kahia
Paul and Catherine Davis
Thu 16 Jun 2016 23:29
43:34N 149:34W
 
Cruising in very cold climate now, with many layers of clothing and under thick duvet when off watch, we are now toying with the idea of turning on our heater and dig out the hot water bottle for the night watches. Approaching the longest day of the year, it’s nice to have more daylight and today the skies have cleared and sunshine is replacing the cold, foggy, grey skies we have experienced over the last few days. We are now sailing in very pleasant conditions and are glad to have a steady 12 knots of wind.
 
Our highlight this morning, while adjusting the sails to the South easterly wind shift, was the presence of two large whales along side our port beam, no more than 15 feet (5m) away. One was forward of the beam and dived to avoid us and the other, a little smaller (probably the calf) followed.
Fortunately we were both up to experience this beautiful and natural encounter with no sense of danger, giving us a foretaste of the wildlife to come along the North West Pacific coast line.