Whale Encounter
A Brush with a Whale
As we were approaching San Francisco on Friday, August 22, about 40 miles due west of the Golden Gate Bridge we encountered a very friendly pod of dolphins. They swam alongside, crossed our bow, and jumped regularly. We were taking photos and this video when we brushed against the side of a whale. It was a fairly gentle bump, and I don’t think either the whale or VALIS were harmed. The whale was definitely not amused, though. After the impact it slapped the side of our boat above the lifelines with it’s flukes. As you can briefly see in the video, there were two whales swimming side by side. Credit must be given to crewmembers Oliver (who can be heard shouting “Hard to port!”), and Aaron, who rushed back to the helm to turn away from the collision, likely preventing a more serious impact.