Velcro mode, featuring blue fluke...

Posted by brianfit at 2:08 PM, July 1, 2004

Yesterday I was in "velcro mode" -- you know, that process of saying goodbye to an incomparable place and amazing people and hard work and good fun that you just want to go on forever. It feels like the sound of two pieces of velcro being pulled apart.

There were a few people on this trip that I've known for some time (the Nordic Mafia, for instance) and some like Marnee and Tomakint that I've only just met. Saying goodbye to all of them was tough.

I came back to the office to hear I'm "the most hated bloke around here." (They're a mean and jealous lot, my colleagues;-) and seeing blue whales has truly set me up for disdain among folks who have been in planning meetings. To make up for the ostracism, I find a Bermuda care package from pledge challenge contestant Lizardfish, complete with Bermuda sand and rum! Thanks you! Your messages and Miguel's (Drizzt) were great -- you guys all deserved to be here too, and were in our thoughts. (Hmm. I just typed "here" -- I guess I'm still mentally in Iceland)

I had hoped to go out with Tomakint for one more look for minke and sei whales before I left, but as Marnee notes below the weather wasn't having it. As it is, I leave Iceland seeing the rarest one of the rarest of whales, hunted to near extinction in the distant past, and have missed the fin and sei whales which our work over the last year has helped save from a new hunt.

So, Ann and Lizardfish and everyone else who has been asking about that party when Iceland actually does end whaling -- I've got the best reason to return: I still haven't seen the whales we've saved together.

Below is a video clip of that blue whale fluke, caught by our man Tor Torgersen on DV. I didn't include the audio to keep the filesize down, but the whalewatch captain is shouting "THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" in the background. This is a guy who goes out to see whales nearly every day -- but hadn't seen a blue in 7 years, and had never seen a blue's fluke before. That ought to tell you a bit about what a rare and magical treat this was. Thanks to the internet, you can enjoy it from behind your own keyboard, without the cold Icelandic wind, the splash of salty sea-spray, or the rugged Icelandic scenery in the background. Hmmm. Doesn't that just make you want to recruit a whole bunch of people to take the Icelandic whales pledge right now so you can get up there and see it personally after Iceland stops whaling?

--Brian