"Date: 4th Oct. 1997; Time: 12pm - Noon; Place: Farallon Islands near San Francisco; The same place where we are about to go today", Carol was as precise as a laser pointer recounting the incident, "I can narrate this incident to you time and again; even in my dreams" Carol - a marin ecologist in the crew added, "Oct. to Dec. every year is a typical time when the great whites (Sharks) populate the Farallon Islands in great numbers to lay eggs. The region is popular for the whales too and that particular day we were on our usual trip to spot these giants (Whales) and others in the Sea."
"There are a very few places in the world where you can spot the giants. Waters near New Zealand is one of the whale hubs and so is the Pacific near San Francisco. Rarely the giants have been spotted near Egypt too. But this sporadic incident that occurred on that specific day near Farallon Islands rekindles the curiosity of the wild life and its mysteries. We, the whale watching crowd witnessed an unexpected, once in a blue moon event on that specific day and it has etched in my memory forever." Carol continued," As we were trying to spot the giant in the waters, some of the members spotted an unusual activity in the waters. Usually we spot the whale through their characteristic resounding breathe and at times splashes. The splash of the giants in the waters on this occasions though was unusually vehement, hugely resounding and outlandishly scary raising suspicions." Carol was excited,"What the hake was happening? Was there a fight going on in the waters? We had no clue. Attack by one giant on the other? One big fish smothering the other big fish? One mammal trying to demolish the existence of the other? We simply had no clue and we hurriedly reported the incident to the nearby biologists. The team arrived and the underwater cameras testified that the great killer whale has recently had the great white shark for breakfast. In a fight that lasted for about 20 minutes, the killer whale could successfully muffle the great white to whet its appetite. Soon the cameras could also video graph the killer whale merrily swimming in the nearby waters triumphantly."
When the videos were shown to an expert biologist; she could readily identify the giant in no time and yelled,"I know her. I know her so well. She is the one who usually resides near the Monterey Bey. What was she doing near the Farallons?" The news flashed on CNN the same day raising a plethora of questions. Is it a normal event unknown to mankind or an extremely rare one? Was the attack meticulously planned or was it just a spontaneous decision taken by the giant? What will be its repercussions on the Sea life?
The event was studied further it came to become a knowledge that this extremely rare attack was indeed meticulously planned by the giant and the repercussions were so huge that for the next few years the great whites absconded from the Farallon Islands and chose to remain in their hub near Hawaii. How the communication between the great white community takes place still remains a mystery and probably these mysteries are the ones that make science so interesting, so much more fascinating...
Although our Whale spotting trip to Farallon Islands was not this eventful, it was certainly memorable and very much enjoyable. Just to be in the vicinity of the giants is an exhilarating experience in itself. I would certainly recommend this trip to one and all visiting the US west coast. The pictures might whet your appetite further...
Breathing Gray Whale
Huge - A Huge mammal
Whale preparing for a deep dive
Going deep In...
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