At first I felt disillusioned by the large number of whale-watching boats carrying hundreds of tourists out to search for the largest creature ever known; the loud rattling engines, revving and spluttering each time a blow was seen in the distance. It was as if the nightmare of my youth was returning, the injustice and horror I experienced in the 1960s when, as a teenager, I had learned of the whale catchers relentlessly chasing blue whales to harpoon and kill them. Blue whal