Thanks Melissa, for sharing a tale of beauty to help me keep my sanity
in the hectic life between paddling trips. Just reading your trip report
brought some peace and relaxation.

Wilko

Melissa wrote:
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22 March, 2006

I really wanted to get out earlier today, but "stuff to do" kept me
in the house until pretty late in the afternoon. Still though, with a
little over two hours of daylight left, I finally got to enjoy a
short paddle in my backyard pond (aka Pacific Ocean).

It's been raining steadily today. Not a hard rain, and just moderate
wind (forecasted at 8-18 knots, but it stayed at the lower end of
that, and only started picking up a bit on my way home). Since I
didn't have much daylight left, I didn't want to spend any time
loading the boat on the car and driving to where I had originally
planned to launch (a bit further up the coast), so I just carried the
boat across the beach and launched into the surf. Not much swell, but
enough surf to splash my face as I punched my way out through the
zone.

Now beyond the surf zone, I was in open water. I always love the
feeling of being "out to sea" in my little boat. I paddled only about
a mile offshore, but it was far enough so that I could enjoy a nice
wide view of the bluffs as I made my way north, toward a few offshore
rocks that were once part of a headland, long since washed away. I
tried to imagine the time lapse erosion of the land, and thought
about the stubbornness of these few remaining rocks, standing defiant
against one of the great forces of nature all these many years.

As the rocks drew nearer, and me and my boat danced along on familiar
waters, I marveled at the fact that no matter how many times I've
paddled these waters in the past several years, there's always
something different to feel, and to perceive. I just can't predict
what will catch my eye, my ears, or my imagination. Then, as if to
remind me not to drift too far into my daydreams, a familiar sound,
followed immediately by an equally familiar pungent mist...whale
breath! :-)

Yes indeed, it was my old friend "Spot", a name both myself and the
local fishermen have called him for years, because of the distinctive
white spot on his starboard side. He's one of our resident "couch
potatoes", as he doesn't bother to migrate between Baja and Alaska
every year. He's a young one, and he's been growing quite a bit each
year. When I first started paddling with him nearly nine years ago,
he was really quite small...as Gray Whales go, anyway. Now he's
becoming quite the teenager, and the sound of his breath is growing
fuller, deeper.

Though I know that these resident whales do swim over a large
territory, most of the time, I encounter them in a large bay a few
miles south of here, where they seem to have found plenty of food to
keep them busy and happy. Though all the residents here will spend
quite a bit of time with me, Spot is one of the three who have spent
even more time with me than some of the others...swimming alongside,
and gliding just inches underneath my boat's hull, sometimes
spyhopping right next to me, and often enough, surprising me with a
"hello" just when I'm beginning to think they're all off somewhere
else for the day.

I don't know if it really means anything to the whales or not, but
for many years now, I've tapped a particular rhythm on my boat when I
know they're around...just to let them know where I am. I may just be
imagining it, but often enough, it seems that my tapping will call
them, because so many times, just minutes after I tap my rhythm, they
will appear at my side. And so I tap away. By the way, if anyone has
any ideas about tapping their boats, I shall respectfully ask that
you tap your own code, as this one is mine! :-)

So here we are, Spot swimming ahead, diving, then reappearing at my
stern, then swimming up alongside again. A few times, while
alongside, he rolls over a bit, and I catch a glimpse of his eye. Hi
Spot! :-) I ask him if he's out here wondering, like I am, when we'll
be seeing the first of the migrating whales, but he doesn't answer.
He seems content to just swim circles around me, and I am content to
let him do so. We paddle and swim like this for almost twenty
minutes, when I realize that I'll have to turn back soon if I'm to
make it back home before dark. I tell him that I have to go home
soon. Again, no answer...swimming is good enough.

I turn around, and begin to paddle home. For about ten more minutes,
Spot tags along, and then, a nice little spyhop just off my bow, then
a gentle fluke lifting dive, and he's off to somewhere else. As I
paddle the rest of the way home, I think about this young whale, this
magnificent creature that seems to know me, and doesn't mind spending
a bit of time with me now and again. I am a paddler, and I know just
how fortunate I am.

- --
Melissa

PGP Public Keys: http://www.freewebs.com/kuviahunnihautik/

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--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Whales! How wonderful, Melissa. And to have a friend you personally
know, too. I'm off to Tonga this September to swim with humpbacks -
evidently, it's the only place on the planet where it's legal to do so.
Danny B at Esalen has told me he's taken a raft out to watch humpbacks
mate. Evidently, it's a 2 male and one female event where one of the
whales forms a platform for the female to rest upon while the other
male mounts her. He didn't know how they decided which male was active
and which was support. Sounded very civilized to me. Whales have much
larger brain mass than humans, even when adjusted for body mass. I'm a
big whale fan! Thanks, Melissa. I'm sure Spot recognizes your call.
Come to Tonga with us? www.aquacranial.com is the website of Rebecca
Goff, a cetacean whisperer for sure - we met her in Hawaii last year
and took a trip to Bimini to swim with wild dolphins. . . . I hope
to paddle with whales this Spring. I've met someone who lives in Big
Sur and he says he'll take us to some places he knows where he paddles
with Grays. . . . . Keep communicating with Spot, Melissa. And
thank you for sharing with us!

Mothra wrote:
Whales! How wonderful, Melissa. And to have a friend you personally
know, too. I'm off to Tonga this September to swim with humpbacks -
evidently, it's the only place on the planet where it's legal to do so.
Danny B at Esalen has told me he's taken a raft out to watch humpbacks
mate. Evidently, it's a 2 male and one female event where one of the
whales forms a platform for the female to rest upon while the other
male mounts her. He didn't know how they decided which male was active
and which was support. Sounded very civilized to me. Whales have much
larger brain mass than humans, even when adjusted for body mass. I'm a
big whale fan! Thanks, Melissa. I'm sure Spot recognizes your call.
Come to Tonga with us? www.aquacranial.com is the website of Rebecca
Goff, a cetacean whisperer for sure - we met her in Hawaii last year
and took a trip to Bimini to swim with wild dolphins. . . . I hope
to paddle with whales this Spring. I've met someone who lives in Big
Sur and he says he'll take us to some places he knows where he paddles
with Grays. . . . . Keep communicating with Spot, Melissa. And
thank you for sharing with us!

My thoughts exactly! Tell Spot thanks, from all of us, for being your
friend! Your friendship with Spot increases all of our face and heart
value! HYY

Melissa wrote:
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Hi Wilko,

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 21:14:50 +0100, you wrote:


Thanks Melissa, for sharing a tale of beauty to help me keep my
sanity in the hectic life between paddling trips. Just reading your
trip report brought some peace and relaxation.


I'm always happy to contribute to the sanity of Wilko! ;-) I'm also
looking forward to more "Wilko sized" trip reports! I hope your next
paddling trip is sooner rather than later! :-)

Me too! We're off to go kayak in the pool in an hour... Alas, not enough
water in the rivers to go on a trip.

As for the trip reports, I guess that I have lost the desire to write
ever since life got so hectic. Right now I'm spending too much time at
work or in the car and not enough time with the people I love, my
friends and my kayak.

I'm thinking seriously about going back to school (sociology), that
should help get some more peace and quiet back in my life as well as get
some more time for fun and relaxation. :-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

Wilko wrote:
I'm thinking seriously about going back to school (sociology), that
should help get some more peace and quiet back in my life as well as get
some more time for fun and relaxation. :-)

That would make degree number...what?...seven? Eight?

--
Steve Cramer
Athens, GA

Steve Cramer wrote:
Wilko wrote:

I'm thinking seriously about going back to school (sociology), that
should help get some more peace and quiet back in my life as well as
get some more time for fun and relaxation. :-)

That would make degree number...what?...seven? Eight?

Hey Steve, who is counting? :-)

Seriously though, having a pile of certificates, diploma's and what more
doesn't help much if you're doing something that you don't like (being
an IT consultant right now). I'm not that interested in doing any of the
things that I did before, so when there's the option of getting another
degree and trying something new, why not give it a try?

What I'm doing now is actually just a hobby that has accidentally grown
into a job. That may sound good, but it's taken a lot of the fun away of
when it was still only a hobby. No-one will take the experience and the
certificates that I got there away from me, but I'm looking forward to
doing something else for a change. There are so many more things that
I'm still curious about, and many more things that I think I can do
better than average.
--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/