Whale of a Tale
What has been your wildest wildlife encounter on, under or near the sea?
Mine happened off Hawaii Island (aka the Big Island) in 2011. I was visiting friends Angela and Glenn who were living outside of Kona, on a hill, overlooking the vast Pacific. It was tempting to sit on their lanai all day, but we had plans. After snorkeling and seeing some of the island from a local perspective, Angela arranged with her canoe club to invite me along for a sunsrise paddle the following morning.
Fortunately, I love early mornings! We arrived at the beach in the dark. With some brief introductions to the rest of the crew , who graciously welocmed me onboard, we quietly paddled out.
These folks had been doing this for a long time. Me, never. While being an avid kayaker, this was a little different. They instructed me to mimic the paddler in front of me. I was in the back seat on the port ama.
The woman who was in charge of giving us directions was a petite wahine, with many years of experience under her rashguard. We all got into a beautiful rhythm as we watched the sky gently light up the water.
I absorbed every moment of bliss, being on the water is my happy place. While the crew were practicing for races, this day was more of a relaxed pace, as I followed stroke for stroke, as best I could, with my wooden paddle.
Our leader, who was in the back, on the startboard side, was the first to spot a pair of humpback whales in the distance. Thrilled as can be, we all took a moment, put down our paddles and enjoyed these majestic beings. They swam away and we continued our journey. After we got to a certain point, it was time to turn around and head back to the beach.
The calm waters matched our zen mood, until, suddenly a very large humpback surfaced a few feet off our starboard bow. As we all caught our breath, the port ama lifted a few feet as an imact hit us with enough intensity that I litereally bounced straight up out of my seat, and landed back down, fortunate to still be onboard. I kept a firm grip on my paddle, knowing its value as a means of propulsion.
Our fearless leader, diminutive in size, yet very vocally shouted, “Paddle like you’ve never paddled before!” Copy that Captain! We could have won any race at that moment. Adrenaline is a true companion.
As we took off, we saw a juvenile humpback, and realized that was what caused the impact. As horrible as we felt about the poor timing of junior’s surfacing, we looked back to see mama whale swim away with her baby, fully intact, with most likely a bit of a headache.
Once onshore, as we dragged our boat on the beach, there was a football sized hole on the bow, above the waterline.
The crew told me that had never happened before and I must be a whale whisperer, which i’d rather be known as, than a whale collider!