re: Whales
Considering that 75 percent of Earth is covered by water, most
of it oceans, and we have explored so little of it, I would hardly
say that the whales have "nowhere much interesting" to go and
see. I am sure they know far more about the oceans and their
deepest regions than we will for a very long time.
This may be one reason why SETI has yet to bear fruit: If most
alien intelligences are like cetaceans, they won't be doing any
broadcasts into the galaxy - at least nothing we can detect.
Add to this our seeming inability to recognize any being as
intelligent that doesn't look and act just like us (and even
then we often disregard it), and it may be even longer before
we find ETI than when we do truly understand the oceans.