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Picture of the Day

Sunday
March 9, 2014
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Sarah's parents, here to escape Ohio cold for a couple of weeks, invited us to go whalewatching. It was a perfect morning for it, clear and mostly sunny with just enough clouds to keep it from getting too hot. Maalaea bay was windy as usual but once we made it to Olowalu it was calm and the water was flat as a lake. The captain cut engine and we drifted a bit in the vicinity of three adults--two males languidly pursuing a female. It was a very genteel and mannered pursuit, in keeping with the Jane Austen Sarah's mom was reading. Assistants dropped a hydrophone over the bow to broadcast the realtime sounds of humpback whalesong over the ship's PA. As luck would have it the trio swam right by the stern, breaching, blowing, diving as if in slow motion. It was a crystalline moment, all silent and still except for their stately undulations and the sedate puffs of their breathing, then the gentle plash and suck of water as they slipped once more below the surface.   space