Mooning Around In Monterey Bay

We set out early , very early on a Sunday morning. Aim? to catch the boat into the Monterey Bay for Whale Watching .We aimed to reach Wisherman's Wharf, that is where the boat rides start, in about 90 minutes, just in time for our boat trip.We drove along CA-1 which is supposed to be one of the most scenic highways in CA.On way, we were greeted by greenery all along the hills and the wide fields with crops of artichokes.Started reminiscing about the lush green paddy and rice fields in India and the specks of bright clothing of farmers bent down tending to their fields.Oh ! There is no place like India :-).

I wokeup from my reverie,to a call from the Boat Ride guys informing that the boat is going to start in another 5 minutes.Where were we??.Panic Mode in my brain! How can this be? I woke up so early on a Sunday morning, just to get onto to this boat!!.Planned meticoulously about the drive and how fast/slow we would go and how we would be there in time!.And now this sweet lady informs us that we are gonna miss the boat! No..No..No..Please wait for meee .First Panic,then misery and then comes the realization that our clocks are set to one hour behind time,thanks to daylight savings! Damn DayLight Savings! .

But as usual S came to rescue and asked for the booking in the afternoon instead.Since the boat ride was not until 1:30 in the afternoon and we had about 2 hours to burn at Monterey Bay.We went visiting the Aquarium.Got to see lots of fishes and gooey jelly fish of various kinds.Other than the fish, the place was filled with lots of cute kids in various sizes and shapes accompanied by their parents.I felt the Aquarium was totally kid-centric, with play areas and fun activities.Had fun, watching the fish feeding session.After gaping at the fish feed, my stomach began to growl and we set out to find a good sea food restaurant to binge.On the way to the quest, tasted some yummy Clam Chowder which was being served free outside some restaurants .This was an incentive to get inside the restaurants, some marketing innovation I should say.We got into a Bay Facing restaurant with only 15 minutes for the joy ride to start and grabbed a quick bite.

The Whale Watching boat started bang on time,and then I did the most 'stupid-est' thing, well one of the many foolish things, which I do on a daily basis.Wondering what it is?this is it..the navigator of the boat, a lady(marine biologist) kept repeatedly warning us to take the motion sickness pill if we are prone to sea sickness.She kept saying things like, we are going to travel far and wide in the bay and not return for another 3 hours so better take the pill if you are prone to sea sickness.If you don’t take the pill now and if you feel sick in the middle of the ride, we are not going to return and you have to endure the suffering all along,etc..It was like she was hypnotizing us into taking the pill , even if we do not have motion sickness.As she was reciting her sermon, S was looking at me suspiciously and kept saying 'why don’t you take the pill?", 'are you sure you wont get sick?" , "are u ok, going into the ocean for 3 hrs?" , etc.And me, having this uncanny virtue of getting pysched up at the slightest thought of all the possible ways I could get sick and then induce pain upon myself and people around me, took the pill !.Yes, I took the pill even though I never had a bout of sea sickness in my entire lifetime, How is that for ficklemindedness?

Well after that what happened is still a haze to me..At first I felt ok, but once the cold sea air hit me, I started feely dazed.Then I remembered what I read on the cover of the tablet,taking this pill might cause ' slight drowsiness'.I could not believe that all my excitement of whale watching would just slip by as I sleep.But I wanted to fight this pill,I resolved that I can fight a 'slight drowsiness',that is no big deal !But after a few minutes,It was as if my brain was having this argument with my body , my body was going "oh! I am sooo sleepy , wish there was a couch somewhere around in this boat"and my brain was like "hey come one, no sleeping...only whale watching !!".In addition to my brain, S kept asking me "are u sleepy?" every 10 minutes.It was as he is was expecting me to goto sleep ,so that I cause no harm to self and ofcourse him.But I did not give in,I did not want to sleep, I want to see whales.In an attempt to stay awake,I tried various stunts,walking around the deck, change places on the bench, trying to touch the cold ocean water so to regain my senses.I even thought of chanting a quick prayer to the ocean-god to send some whales up to surface for me to see before I blackout.But then deferred from doing that, as I wondered if this american-ocean-god could comprehend my Indian prayer.What if he translated it into something else and sent a killer shark instead! Can't forget JAWS! But Alas!No Whales,instead sleep was closing in on me like a dark shadow in a lonely alley!!!

There was no whale is sight even after about 90 minutes of search, the only things to be seen were sea lions.And I was sleeping with my eyes open!. Then at that precise moment as per S, there it came Mr Humpback Whale .I got up with a start, with a 'Whale!, Whale! ' chanting all around me.First came the blow, then the top of its head , then the back and lastly the swish of its tail.It was an awesome sight, even in my dazed vision I could see how magnificient the animal was .It presented itself only for about 2 minutes and then dived deep into the water for its grab of fish.As per the marine biologist on board this particular whale visits every year during its migration period.It was greyish blue in colour and seemed like having a splash! It would emerge approximately every 4 minutes to take a breath of air.Every time the whale would surface,I would wake with a start to the chant and ofcourse S shaking me vigourously so that I don’t miss the moment. I managed to keep up with the enthu with S and catch glimpses of all the whale sightings.But after passing in and out of my Z's a couple of more times.It completely gave up and just went into the boat's chamber and slept for the rest of the trip.I do not know if there was any more sightings nor do I know if S tried to wake me up, I completely passed out.

All my excitement about Whale Watching lastly precisely for about 15 minutes.In which I could catch glimpses of the mighty whale thru my sleep induced eyes.Later when I was going thru the pictures which S had taken of the whales, I found one picture of me …sleeping !!!