We Babysat a Blue Whale and the Footage is Breathtaking!

Few experiences in life compare to encountering a blue whale. Everyone knows they're the largest animal on earth and that's one of those facts that we all just seem to inherently know without any recollection of when we actually learned it. Perhaps it comes ingrained in our imaginations. Since it's Mother's Day, I'm gonna tell you the story of one of the best days I've had on the ocean. When a mama blue whale put us in charge of babysitting her calf. Sometimes referred to as parking, blue whale moms are known to leave their calves with respectful whale watching boats that she feels comfortable with. This gives her some time for self-care, mainly diving hundreds of feet beneath the surface in pursuit of krill to feed on. The baby, which still relies on its mom's milk for food, would rather hang out with us. What made this encounter extra special for me is that the woman in the light blue hoodie towards the back is my mom. My mom is from Chicago and doesn't get to join me in San Diego for whale watching very often. That I got to experience one of the greatest blue whale moments of my life while she was on board. Well, that was pretty cool. This blue whale mom could not have left her baby in more capable hands. The calf danced around us for nearly an hour. Some of the GoPro footage actually managed to pick up audio of the calf vocalizing at us. Most blue whale vocalizations are below the human hearing threshold, but this calf was vocalizing in such a way that we could actually hear it echoing through the hull of the boat. That could possibly be something the whale knew to do on purpose, right? Right? Not likely, but it was still one of those profound moments that make you stop and consider just how little we truly know about what goes on in the mind of a blue whale. Every once in a while we see something in these animals that is easily recognizable. Something that's unmistakable. A mother's love and devotion. We see it in them and I think they see it in us too. Maybe there's a less whimsical reason for why an 80-foot giant would leave her baby with a species a fraction of her size. I'm sure someone could deconstruct why a blue whale calf would be vocalizing at a frequency that humans could actually hear. But I'm telling you, if you spend enough time with these animals, you realize there's a connection. A spark. Something that's deeply familiar. In those moments you realize that the line between us and them is not as wide as we once thought.