When I got to the beach today, I noticed a kayak and a couple swimmers out a ways and close to a whale that was stationary on the surface with its tail out of the water. I got my gear together and about 5 minutes later paddled out. I passed the kayaker as he was coming in and we stopped to chat a bit. I asked him if the whale was a singer after he described how the whale was hanging head down but he said he didn't hear any song. He said he thought it might be resting. By this point, the whale had moved a good distance off shore and I saw two swimmers still near it. I paddled up to within 100 yards of them and stopped and watched. The water was quite still and there was little movement. The whale would just hang there with tail out and slightly and slowly swaying from side to side. I was and am concerned about the health of this whale as I have not seen this type of behavior before but I am certainly no expert. From the size of the tail I figure this is a sub adult as the whale was larger than a calf but not full grown. I slipped into the water and moved in to join the other swimmers.

The whale slow rose to horizontal and then took a breath and proceed to swim away about 25 yards further out or so.

I got back on my boat and watched the whale resume its tail of the water routine. I could hear some song which I thought was coming from this whale but it certainly didn't have the volume of adult singers I have heard. Was this just a young fellow getting ready for the future? I hope so...

I was also a bit concerned about the two swimmers out here as they were about 1/2 mile off shore I would guess. The two young men were fine when I talked to them and one had a boogie board they could use for flotation if needed. Frankly, the swimmers were to far out in my opinnion and this whale was not behaving in a manner seemingly fit for a healthy whale. The swimmers were just fine and I hope I misread the whale's behavior as well. They headed back to shore and I hung out a bit.

I took a couple surface shots with the Olympus point and shoot:

Another pod was nearby and I saw one adult swim over towards this whale. They swam away together at a good clip and later on and in the distance, I could see this fellow's tail out of the water and other whales around it.

When I returned to the beach, a woman came up to me and asked if the whale was OK. I told her I didn't know but it seemed to be odd in its behavior. She said she thought she had seen it yesterday as well with its tail out. I have no idea if she had seen the same whale or if her concerns were unfounded as were mine. I think I will look out for this whale tomorrow if I get out there again.