Today we went whale watching, both the human kind and the fishy kind.
The human kind of whale watching was while I was sipping my tea in Starbucks; huge people, perfectly orbital, coming in to order Frappuccino’s with whipped cream (600 calories) and ordering sugar biscuits – one woman ordered 12. People really seem to come in two sizes here….huge or fit and in very good condition; nothing in between. I think that the reason for this is that healthy (or even normal) food is hard to come by and so those who make the effort to
be healthy almost become fanatical about it…and those who cant really be bothered slowly creep up the Body Mass Index.
I have forgotten what it is like to just sit and watch people for their strangeness, I used to do that when I first got to the UK but now the British strangeness was worn off to a point of then being ‘normal’ (or perhaps weird), however the Americans are still in the novel and strange category for me. I will say one thing for them - they are very friendly...just sit next to someone on a bus or at an adjacent table and a conversation with the total stranger will inevitable start, beginning with "where are you from". Strangely, when someone answers they are from the US (town and state given) that seems to be a conversation starter, but when we say Hong Kong / South Africa / UK it seems to be a conversation killer. Perhaps because of their limited knowledge of geography outside the US.
The fishy type of whale watching was while driving back from lunch with a paddling friend of Clarissa’s who have moved to Hawaii to paddle full time. During lunch they told of a paddler that was about 2 miles out to sea rowing and caught a wave, when a whale suddenly surfaced
in front of him and his outrigger canoe surfed down the swell and crashed into the whale, which swatted at him with its tail and smashed his canoe and tossed him through the air – luckily not injuring him. A totally freak event but apparently has happened before.
After the lunch they showed us a point along the coast about 5m above the sea that the locals jump off – a lava flow resulted in a steep drop off and the locals jump from the top of the rocks into the water. The trick is to get back out again by waiting around for a swell to lift to you to a point where you can cling on and clamber out. The risk is calling the swell wrong, which turns into a wave and bashes you into the rock. I considered jumping in with them and clambering out under the guidance of the locals but after seeing one Hawaiian boy getting it wrong and being smashed against the rocks – legs above head and at least 3m up, I decided against it. The other kids pulled their rather dazed friend to safety, and he emerged rather bloodied and cut up.
It was off this point that we saw whales, with babies, breaching the water while swimming on their way.
The human kind of whale watching was while I was sipping my tea in Starbucks; huge people, perfectly orbital, coming in to order Frappuccino’s with whipped cream (600 calories) and ordering sugar biscuits – one woman ordered 12. People really seem to come in two sizes here….huge or fit and in very good condition; nothing in between. I think that the reason for this is that healthy (or even normal) food is hard to come by and so those who make the effort to
be healthy almost become fanatical about it…and those who cant really be bothered slowly creep up the Body Mass Index.I have forgotten what it is like to just sit and watch people for their strangeness, I used to do that when I first got to the UK but now the British strangeness was worn off to a point of then being ‘normal’ (or perhaps weird), however the Americans are still in the novel and strange category for me. I will say one thing for them - they are very friendly...just sit next to someone on a bus or at an adjacent table and a conversation with the total stranger will inevitable start, beginning with "where are you from". Strangely, when someone answers they are from the US (town and state given) that seems to be a conversation starter, but when we say Hong Kong / South Africa / UK it seems to be a conversation killer. Perhaps because of their limited knowledge of geography outside the US.
The fishy type of whale watching was while driving back from lunch with a paddling friend of Clarissa’s who have moved to Hawaii to paddle full time. During lunch they told of a paddler that was about 2 miles out to sea rowing and caught a wave, when a whale suddenly surfaced
in front of him and his outrigger canoe surfed down the swell and crashed into the whale, which swatted at him with its tail and smashed his canoe and tossed him through the air – luckily not injuring him. A totally freak event but apparently has happened before.After the lunch they showed us a point along the coast about 5m above the sea that the locals jump off – a lava flow resulted in a steep drop off and the locals jump from the top of the rocks into the water. The trick is to get back out again by waiting around for a swell to lift to you to a point where you can cling on and clamber out. The risk is calling the swell wrong, which turns into a wave and bashes you into the rock. I considered jumping in with them and clambering out under the guidance of the locals but after seeing one Hawaiian boy getting it wrong and being smashed against the rocks – legs above head and at least 3m up, I decided against it. The other kids pulled their rather dazed friend to safety, and he emerged rather bloodied and cut up.
It was off this point that we saw whales, with babies, breaching the water while swimming on their way.
Next trip to the Pipeline - the huge waves that makes Hawaii one of the most famous surf spots in the world.
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