I went on a whale watching tour about 2 decades ago- the memory is still vivid.... I remember really not wanting to spend a couple of hours on a boat in the sun, but I went anyways to humor my mom and aunt and uncle... we took a boat from cape cod and it went out into the Atlantic.... Boring!

Finally they announced that we were approaching a pod of whales, humpbacks... I looked, and in the distance you could see them surfacing and spraying- no big deal- we got closer and one of them, a few hundred yards away jumped out of the water and splashed... that was impressive- the captain turned off the engines- and thats when the outing turned surreal....

the whale started jumping closer and closer to the boat- surfacing and spraying - it was almost like it was intentionally showing off for its audience- whales dont need to surface that often- and it was absolutely clear that it was attracted to our boat, after all it had endless miles of ocean to explore...They jumped out of the water- almost as if they were trying to get a better view of the odd creatures on the boat....

Another whale joined the first, and they performed just tens of yards away- the tour was about to wrap up- thats when it stopped being surreal and became creepy...

One of the whales swam up to the boat and sprayed, it wasnt just NEAR the boat, it was against the boat... it laid along the side of the boat and sprayed the people leaning over the side.... It then rolled over and gazed up at us with its big eye- there was NO doubt about it- the whale was studying us- It submerged and resurfaced and repeatedly looked at us as people ooohed and ahhed and took pictures- I think he sprayed the audience a few times- the other whale - we were told- was rubbing against the bottom of the boat-- we were unable to move until they left- even the experienced crew seemed shocked- The captain apologized for the delay and said this was extremely unusual- I was fascinated- I kept looking at that big eye studying us...

Have you ever noticed that even with some humans you can look into their eyes and just see that they are barely aware? Look at the eyes of a cow, or Jessica Simpson and you see no spark of intelligence... well- looking into that big eye looking up at us the feeling I got was a sense of bemused curiosity- it wasnt just looking at us, it was trying to figure out what we were- I really did get the impression that it understood that were were also sentient creatures, because it went out of its way to show off for us... A dog is a pretty smart creature, this was orders of magnitude beyond that- I think a dolphin's intelligence is on par with a dog- the whales are, IN MY OPINION, far beyond that

It may have been a whale watching tour for us- but it was OBVIOUSLY a people watching tour for them, and they were NOT going to let us go until they were damn well ready- I dont remember how long this went on, but the tour was MUCH longer than planned because the whales remained too close to the boat for them to turn on the engines....

Now, you all know how I demand scientific proof for wild claims... and I admit, I MAY be anthropomorphizing the whales behavior in an unobjective manner- nevertheless, There is NO doubt in my mind - AT ALL- that whales are sentient creatures that deserve our respect- killing them is barbaric and should be stopped.... It IS murder.... I think that, essentially, they are an alien intelligence that we should try to understand. Consider it practice.