Whales

North of Point Arguella, motoring in calm waters with marine fog that is just beginning to break up (in an hour or two, we will be left with blue skies and rising winds), we pass through a pod of a dozen or so whales. We think they are humpbacks, but they may be blues. The small parts we see—a dorsal fin, a spout and arched back, a fluke tossed back—leave us with an impression of immensity and the realization that we are superficial visitors, just skimming the surface in their world.