Tiny Adventures: Living a Life of Gratitude and Growth: Whales, whales and more... Okay, no whales.

First, my apologies for getting behind on the blogging portion of this project. I went whale watching at the end of October, but it's the holiday season so the blogging hasn't come easy... but here we go!

If you know me, you know I LOVE the ocean. The beach is the one place that brings me peace and I love to go at any time of year. Admittedly, I have been on a whale watch before about a year and a half ago, but this time would be different, because Lori and I planned our trip during Whale migration season!

We also planned our trip during the coldest possible time to do a whale watch... Exhibit A:

We <3 whales! (And the Flyers obviously!)

We headed out from the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center (http://www.capemaywhalewatch.com/). In the spirit of my year of adventure, I was sure that I'd see a whale. On my last Whale/Dolphin watch, we saw an amazing super pod of dolphins, about 100 dolphins splashing and playing around. So, I knew we'd see something.

The trip started out with some interesting information that I was not aware of. The Cape May area actually has the 2nd largest fishery in the United States (Lund's), 2nd only to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The area also provides about 90% of the clams eaten in the United States. And about 80% of gasoline used in the U.S. passes through our waters headed to Philadelphia. Fascinating!

As you can see from my title, we did NOT see any whales, which surely would have been one of the most thrilling moments of my life so far. We also didn't see much of dolphins either, only got a quick glimpse. Our Captain tried very hard to find a whale for us, and we did a lot of circling, but more on that in a moment. Because we didn't really see marine mammals, we actually got our tickets validated for a future trip. I thought for sure that our glimpse of dolphin meant that we would NOT get a free trip, so I was pleased and surprised when they said they'd come around to write on our tickets that we could come back for free. I highly recommend the Starlight Fleet and Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center because of this! Their staff was also very knowledgeable and I enjoyed talking to one of the gals on board for a few moments about some of the cool stuff they see. They do sometimes see sharks (WOOHOO!) and over the summer, had gotten to see a great hammerhead shark circling the boat and then going after an injured sea turtle. Hopefully, on a future trip we can see a shark too!

We did see quite a few jellyfish, which had me a little worried about the ecosystem, but they still looked pretty cool.

The real adventure came from our pursuit of whales. About halfway through the trip, the wind picked up a bit. We headed down to the front of the boat for a change of scenery. At the same time, the Captain picked up speed trying to get to a location where a whale had been spotted earlier. We were rolling back and forth quite a lot, but luckily, neither Lori nor I have a history of seasickness. I was a BIT uneasy standing close to the rail when the boat was catching air going through the waves, so I tried to sit down. I took one step back and basically fell right onto the bench behind us. Lori stayed where she was and a minute later, we hit another wave and caught a mouth of saltwater. She also fell right into the seat and a few minutes later, one of the gals on board asked us to move to the sides of the boat because the Captain didn't want anyone in the front. I would think the Captain would try not to drive a big tourist boat like a bat outta hell, but it did provide a little excitement in the day. It was a great help in determining that I am NOT the seasick type, so I guess we did learn something anyway!

Afterwards, we visited my favorite shore point, Cape May for a bit. It was a great day, but next time, I hope there are whales, and of course, SHARKS!

Before I leave you with some pictures of the trip, I'd like to send a big shoutout to my first readers I am aware of that are not people who are obligated to love me, and therefore, my blog. Hello, Texans! Maybe we can do the same adventure separately in the future and we can have a little guest blogging action here!