There we were, smack-dab in the middle of a blue whale’s footprint. “Can’t we stay here until it’s completely gone?” I all but begged, wanting to prolong the stillness and wonder of lingering in that shimmering, ever-widening pool on the surface of the sea. But Kirk was already motoring out of the footprint’s circle, adjusting the speed of the skiff so as to arrive, just at the perfect moment, at the spot where he thought the whale would surface next. Suddenly we were right on the behemoth, so close that I imagined I could reach out and touch it. Perhaps I could even jump aboard its enormous arched back and ride the big blue into the depts. leaving behind yet another footprint to broaden and disperse under the Baja sky.

Capt. Rod Dufour’s voice crackled over the radio from the wheelhouse of the Safari Spirit, the expedition yacht from which we’d launched our skiff, “You’re looking awfully small out there!” ......

“Up Close in Mexico’s Galapagos”
Islands