In the company of giants

There are creatures so magnificent that words and pictures cannot capture them, experiences so vivid they must be lived. This morning the creatures we saw were too magnificent and the experience too vivid, but try to express them in words I must. This morning we saw blue whales.

That the blue whales found in the Indian Ocean are the laughably named pygmy blue whale is taxonomically interesting (though their taxonomy is far from clear) but irrelevant. Smaller than the blue whales of high latitude seas they may be; magnificent they are no less for it.

We sailed from Mirissa port in a storm of terns: whiskered, gull-billed, common, great crested and, a little further offshore, exquisitely long-winged bridled terns. Not long after sailing our spotters called to the captain to guide him towards distant blows; but distant blows soon became not distant blows and we found ourselves in the company of pygmy blue whales. A tall, columnar blow, the ridge of the whale’s back and three seconds (always three seconds) after the blow the diminutive and diagnostic dorsal fin. After a dozen or more blows, a stronger curve to the back, a raised tail and perfect stillness on the ocean’s surface once more.

For two hours we watched a small group of these phenomenal animals, seeing three identifiable whales and perhaps a fourth. The one we saw most – five times – had a large notch cut from its already tiny dorsal fin. Another had a big pale splodge in its tail. And at least one other had no notch and no splodge. Each had whalesuckers attached to its tail or back: another extraordinary creature, on an extraordinary morning.

As we sailed elated home we passed through a feeding flock of whiskered terns, containing numerous smaller, perkier white-winged terns. Six species of tern in a morning. But when blessed with the company of pygmy blue whales, who’s counting?

Marine marvels from this morning

	Mammals
36	pygmy blue whale	Balaenoptera musculus indica
	Birds
349	common tern	Sterna hirundo
350	bridled tern	Sterna anaethetus
351	white-winged tern	Chlidonias leucopterus
352	Indian peafowl	Pavo cristatus
353	white-bellied sea-eagle	Haliaeetus leucogaster
	Fish
2	whalesucker	Remora australis

2012 Totals

Mammals: 36

Birds: 353

Reptiles: 7

Amphibians: 3

Fish: 2