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These scientists pulled their inflatable up next to our boat.
Note the "seat belts" that held them in during their wild rides within inches of the whales. In this photo, they are speaking with our guide Kim, herself a degreed Marine Biologist, and starting to explain their tissue collecting methods.
At that moment, whales in the "rowdy group" they had
been following surged clear of the water only about 50 yards
away. The researchers hurried there.
| You can see their 15-foot boat in the lower left corner of the photo, the plumes of two whales to the right and (upper center) the roiled waters left by two other whales that had just splashed back down after a high leap during which they slammed into each other in midair. |
| The mountain in the background is part of the 60 mile-long ridge that is the northern wall of Samana Bay. The open ocean lies nearby to our right. (to the east) but we are just outside the mouth of the bay. |
| The identity of these
three men has been a small mystery that bothered me every time I revisited
these web pages. Inquiries that began that very morning continued
sporadically over the 13 years years since 1990. Recently, while going
though the files of whale resources I'd collected, I contacted
J.
Michael Williamson the man who took the "blue whale"
picture on the previous page. When I asked him if he knew these men he
immediately identified them as Dave Matilla (right) and Phil Clapham in the
center. Williamson said, "At the time that photo was taken of the 'boys in
the boat' they were working with the Center for Coastal Studies in
Provincetown, Mass. The man to the left is still unidentified. |
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