Today was my day to whale watch and after a very long and hectic week I wasn't in the most energetic state at 8am as I was lugging my two tote bags and a thermos of coffee up the stairs at Clicker Beach. About half way I noticed a car at the entrance gate and then a women got out and started waving at me and yelled up, "are you here to watch the whales?" I nodded my head and she excitedly pointed south and continued, "I was just down at the Flagler [Farmer's] Market and there are whales right off Flagler Pier! A bunch of them! I don't know how fast they are moving but they are heading south!" I rushed back down to my car and, driving ten mph over the speed limit, started making the required phone calls to alert the team.
As I jogged down the pier noting all the people huddled together at the very end I could see black shapes on the surface as a fisherman yelled, "you don't need to run... they're not going anywhere!" This turned out to be true and they put on a gentle and wonder filled show for nearly three and a half hours. This was my very first sighting and, like others have shared here, has changed my life forever.
Here are the photos I took and a link to the two videos. I'm sure Marineland will have the photos from the air up on their blog soon.
What a Whale of a Day!!