Swimming With False Orcas
At three oð€™clock on a sunny afternoon, a small fishing boat pulled up to the back of Viamiti, the 130 foot sail boat on which my family and I were living. Leaving from Academy Bay off the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos, the plan was to go offshore for a 3 hour fishing trip.  Our captain, Felix, provided all the fishing equipment. We motored 2 miles out of the bay to a large underwater drop off where big fish such as wahoo and tuna come to feed. The boat was set up for trawling, which is when the line and bait drag behind a moving boat. After twenty minutes of watching the shore shrink behind us, we put the two lines out, one in my dadð€™s hands and the other in my brotherð€™s.ÂSince fishing is a game of patience everyone was daydreaming in silence. Almost immediately the peace was shattered by our guide, Luis.  His finger shot forward as he shouted ð€Çwhale!ð€Ý and we all sprang to our feet. Two days earlier Luis had been adamant that seeing a whale in these waters was unlikely, so nobody was more surprised than he was. Whales were everywhere, surfacing for air. Luis suggested that we get in the water, and as I was thinking that he was crazy he took off his shirt and grabbed a mask.   We entered the water with our clothes and a borrowed mask because it was all we had. Knowing that the ocean floor was over 3000 feet below us we were a bit reluctant to get in.  When we did the cold temperature shocked us.Â
Â
When we put our heads down in the water we could hear the high pitched squeaking sound of the whales.   My dad, Felix, Luis and I floated patiently on the surface, waiting for the whales to pass beneath us. Five or six False Orcas were cruising along 10 feet below the surface and when they came into our view we were astonished.   All but one of the whales turned upside down and looked at us. Because of the murky water the black backs of the whales were hard to spot but the white bellies were unmistakable. When they disappeared into the green murk we floated in disbelief for a minute until the roar of the fishing boatð€™s engine woke us up. We boarded the fishing boat in an attempt to catch the whales and we sped off.  We plunged into the water and this time it was harder to recognize the whales because their black backs blended in with the darkness of the deep water. We saw them eventually but only one of them had showed us its white belly. We were cold and tired by then so we decided that twice was enough. Me, my dad, Felix watched the whales fade into the distance and stood silently in disbelief.Â