Gift from the Sea

It's been a tough week: battling sickness (more on that later), 4 commutes to the Ranch, the pending cessation of that work and the lack of it on the other side, nice days I couldn't enjoy, a dreary day off. Disappointments. No appointments. It's been a struggle on the Island this winter, and has soured us on staying long. We know we'll enjoy the Spring and Summer out here, but the Winter...brother, no wonder so many people leave the Island in low season!

But today, there's a change. Oh, the weather is dismal--K headed for the gym to beat the blues and get more prepared for her Island Long Walk--but a miracle happened.

Thar' be whales here.

There'd been fishing boats out, more than normal, this weekend. The Chinook Salmon are running and so are the Blackmouth salmon. And the shell-fish season is about to end, so there's been plenty of activity out on the Passage. But around 1400 hours everybody went home, and I was moping, looking out the front window, when a grey tail popped out of the water, about 30 feet from shore, then submerged. A couple moments later a plume of water shot out and a long grey back skimmed the surface. Sorry, no pictures. I grabbed my binoculars (thank you, Evan!) for a closer look. There were two. One had a black-white mottled fin (though K swears its a snout). They were churning up the crill and feasting. No one was about, except some sea-birds and the whales lazily dawdled and ate. An unhurried meal.

I'd seen a whale out here before (one...) in the middle of the Passage and it was being dogged...hounded, more accurately...by a boat illegally in its wake and getting photos (you could see the flash, even in the bright sunshine). Yes, its exciting, but I've always felt bad for the whales and the wildly stupid excitement they produce among us bipeds when they make their rare appearances. It's that way with the dolphins in Hawaii, too. (Oh, and bon voyage Walaka and Otis. Mahalo!) Last trip we spotted the dolphins skirting the west coast of the Big Island on their morning feed. Within ten minutes, breakfast was spoiled by a tourist boat full of howlies in wet-suits who'd paid to "swim with the dolphins." Quite the spectacle. The dolphins cooperated for awhile, then said (in that clicking "Flipper" voice of theirs) "They're scaring the meal!! We're out a-here" and high-tailed it for calmer waters.

Today, these whales went mercifully unmolested. They lingered, bobbed close to the beach and headed out. One boat passed but didn't notice them. Three hours later they returned, and K got a chance to see them. It made the day. It made the Island. We have no idea why these two came so early, but it's been that kind of not-very-normal Winter, and we're grateful for the visit. They brought us a lot of joy.
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As I said, I've been fighting whatever it was K had for two weeks, and actually lost my voice Tuesday night. That was scary. But downing some of K's tea-brews and a fat eight hour sleep and I had most of it back for Wednesday (I needed it!)

K took off for a Semiahmoo spa day, and I did what I usually do: stay up late, go to bed for too short a time (I actually slept on the couch with the pets) and get up too early. But morning found me with half a voice--the lower half and only the lower half. All day at the ranch, I was saying things like "In a world...beyond time...one man must make a choice..." in my best Don Lafontaine/Hal Douglas movie trailer tone. I enjoyed it, and wished I could keep it. But today a concoction of chamomile and mint teas (with maple syrup as a thickening agent) returned my mid/upper ranges to me.

There went my "trailer-voice" career.