Kayaking With the Whales in Puerto Rico
Contributed by Dennis D'Inzeo

• February 2, 2003
• February 9, 2003
• February 16, 2003

Dennis D'Inzeo ready to go

A large flipper spotted

Close contact

Again I paddled in their general direction catching occasional glimpses of the tailflukes of what appeared to be a small group. I finally reached their position and heard a sound like very loud sneezing; apparently the large one exhaling. A large flipper emerged from the water about 30-50 yards away with the irregular white underside facing in my direction. She lifted it almost vertically then slapped it down on the surface in what seemed to be slow motion owing to the great bulk. I tried to stay behind them but found that they consistently resurfaced about 5-10 minutes after sounding, sometimes in a direction completely opposite to their apparent direction, as if they had doubled back. I don't know if they sensed my presence, I never saw their eyes. I started to worry that they would surface under me or breach right on top of me beccause their motion was unpredictable.

I had my disposable camera between my teeth as I paddled (it had no neck-strap) but I froze when I saw the flipper come out of the water. I did get some photos of tail flukes but they were rather far away and I didn't have a telephoto lens.

The group surfaced and sounded several times in the next hour or so but they were gradually moving away from me to the north and I could not keep up. The beach was getting very small and my ride was due at 3 so I reluctantly paddled back. I was about 2 1/2 to 3 miles offshore when I gave up the chase.

I found it difficult to leave them and kept looking back. It was almost a religious experience to see them, enormous intelligent creatures completely oblivious to the world of humans. I will try to get back out next weekend or maybe even after work during the week.

Very rough seas for a kayak

I was out "whaling" again Sunday but had only mixed results. I spotted a humpback breaching and "porpoising" (diving repeatedly and presenting the tail flukes each time) about 2 miles to my east at about 0930 but I had to contend with a ferocious headwind and very rough seas and was never able to get close. I could not tell if there was more than one whale present. It was about 21/2 miles north-northwest of Isabela, PR when I saw it. The next sighting was at about 1400, the whale being about 3 miles north-northeast of Punta Borinquen. In this case I was barely able to make out the whale's form but was alerted to it's presence mainly by the enormous splash that results from breaching. Again, the wind made it impossible for me to get close and return to my agreed pick-up point in time.

My tactic next outing will be to have my wife or son drop me off several miles upwind of my usual kayaking haunts and use the wind to help me get into position when (and if) I spot them.
Apparently they are quite abundant though, as it is unlikely that pure luck would have enabled me to spot them on 2 consecutive Sundays. There was a photo of an upraised flipper in the Sunday "San Juan Star", reportedly off Punta Tierra, which is very close to San Juan. I wasn't aware that they traveled that far east before turning north.

As you can imagine I was anxious to take advantage of the President's Day Weekend in order to see some humpbacks. Saturday was chores as usual but Sunday I attempted to get afloat upwind of their usual haunts.

Kayaking out to sea

The sea is usually rough here in February and Sunday was no exception. I was unable to launch at any point upwind because I would have been swamped by very angry surf (not a good idea, especially when there is a tendency to be swept into sharp rocks). I did see one large humpback breaching about 1 mile north of Punta Sardina, which is about 5 miles east of my usual kayaking domain. Very frustrating.

I finally launched near Punta Borinquen, which I consider to be my "home port" (after getting swamped once) and was afloat no more than 15 minutes when a smallish humpback silently surfaced almost directly in my path, about 15-20 yards away. It was heading west, which is unusual in itself, and less than 1/2 mile offshore. For the first time I observed a brownish tinge to the coloring of the upper body, whereas they had previously appeared to be black. There was an oblong patch of unnatural-looking sky-blue on the lower portion of it's body, somewhat abaft and below the left flipper.

It is difficult to make accurate observations (at least for me) because something like a state of shock sets in when meeting such intimidating creatures in their own domain. This one appeared to be somewhat subdued and did not present the tailflukes when sounding. It may have been irritated by a small "yola" (a locally-crafted wooden fishing-dory) with three men on board which was shadowing it. I imagine that the high-pitched sound of the outboard motor was not exactly music to its ears. I wonder why it was alone. It was somewhat larger than the two I spotted the first weekend out, maybe 12-15 feet in length.

My descriptions should be taken with a grain of salt, though, because of the lack of visual references and the fact that I am totally flabbergasted when making the observations. I had my camera with me but I was struggling to stay pointed into the wind in order to avoid being swamped and could not take the time to aim and shoot. At any rate, in an instant it was gone and I never saw it again.

Eventually the wind started blowing me off track so I had give up looking for whales in order to make for "Crashboat" Beach, which is in the lee of the island. The sea on Monday was even wilder than Sunday so I decided to hang up my paddle until next week.

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