Whale Watching

Not in Laos, but off the coast of Massachusetts, we suddenly (though not unexpectedly since we were on a whale watch) found ourselves surrounded by whales. One calf, in particular, took a liking to our boat and swam back and forth, around and under the boat while tourists ran from port to starboard trying to get the best views. One member of our whale watching group was as excited, if not more excited, than most of the children on the boat. She even resorted to elbowing her way to the best views.

Here is a group of 8 humpback whales, although solitary animals they do enjoy socializing a bit in the waters of the east coast of America.
Our boat had to navigate it's way around the whales and the pleasure boaters. Who in my humble, Iowa-bred opinion were way too close.
The whales were amazing to watch but they were only part of the viewing fun on our whale watch. In addition to 24 Humpback whales, 4 Minke whales we were lucky enough to see 2 Basking sharks (although we were not able to get any good pictures).

Check out this link to see pictures of a Basking shark.