Posted by nicole on 07/05/2006 10:04 am

The following posting is from oceans campaigner John, who is onboard in the Bering Sea...

We've been making good time, taking advantage of the calm(ish) seas as we cruise out to Unalaska Island. There have been a few whale sightings so far, mostly short glimpses of dorsal fins from afar with an occasional flash of a tail fluke. This afternoon, though, was something special.

A mother and calf put on a real show, with an hour of breaching, flipper-slapping, lobtailing acrobatics. No one knows for sure why they do it, but watching these whales leap and splash for an hour made it pretty easy to believe that they were just having fun.

Meanwhile, Japan is moving ahead with their plans to start hunting these incredible animals, in spite of the international ban on commercial whaling. There is so little market for whale meat in Japan today that much of the meat will end up in pet food. What a pointless and shameful waste.

But for today at least, we can’t get the toothy grins off our faces. We have just witnessed something that will stay with us for a long, long time, and all we feel is grateful.

- John