While on our Study Abroad program to Costa Rica we were able to experience a whale watching excursion. We were all very excited, but they warned it was the very beginning of the season when the whales would come into the gulf, and they could not promise that we would see any. We decided to take our chances, and I’m so glad we did. The whales had been spotted before even getting into the boat that morning! We were able to board and get right up close to humpback whales! It was so cool to see them in their natural environment, especially since I have never seen them in the wild.