A sunny day in December prodded us toward the water. The
breeze from across the gentle surf beckoned to us and we did not fight back. We
walked through the doors of La Jolla Kayak and met an enthusiastic 25 year-old
Bri who was to be our kayak guide for a couple of hours. The goal of the tour
was to explore the 7 caves of La Jolla Bay as well as the fish and plants
discovered along the way. For Huffygirl and me, it was a chance to get on the
water which we try to do any chance we get. Bri chatted pleasantly as we
paddled through the rolling waves of the bay, sharing tidbits about the
surrounding houses dangling at the edge of the world and the exposed fault
line. We learned about the guy with the cliff-side house who felt it took too
long to get to the water so he dug a tunnel down to one of the sea caves. We
learned to spot the orange flashes of the Gerabaldi fish as they swam blow us
and we met a couple of sea lions sunning on rocks. While we were cruising along
at one point, a playful sea lion surprised is with a visit. He just kinda popped
up and looked us over, then after getting the proper amount of attention, he
was gone. What a fun little adventure!
Because we were here in La Jolla on a weekday in December,
we were the only paddlers
on the tour. Huffygirl wondered if the rest of the
world knew something we didn’t. I asked her when I had ever steered her wrong
and after droning on with various questionable paths I had convinced her to
take with me, I started crying and asked if she would please just trust me and
like she always did before, she said okay and I wiped my face and on we went.
We were in a tandem kayak and Huffygirl told me I could be the navigator. It
was odd that no matter how hard I tried to steer, we
always ended up going where Huffygirl wanted to go. Bri checked and said there was
nothing wrong with the kayak so we all agreed (‘All’ being Huffygirl and Bri)
it was due to my inept paddling and we just kept moving on. I was just happy to
be floating over the gentle waves as we looked for kelp beds which Bri told us
were one of the signs of a healthy ecosystem in the bay. After a very relaxing
and thoroughly enjoyable journey around the caves, the sea lions and kelp beds,
we were beginning to head back toward shore when…
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| Bri took this shot of Huffygirl and me. Cool. |
CRASH!! It sounded like a deep explosion and then a very
heavy splash. All 3 of us looked to see a 50 foot splash zone, water still
coming down from high in the air. We hadn’t seen it, but Bri exclaimed, “Whale
breach!!” The splash was a couple of hundred yards away. I felt my heart rate
increase as it sunk in that a whale and just jumped into the air. 20 minutes
later, a kayaker who had been fishing outside the bay told us the whale had
been at least 20 feet out of the water! And like reading something on the
Internet, if a fisherman tells you he saw something, you know it’s true!
My thought was that I didn’t see it. I just saw the splash.
I want to see the whale! Bri reacted to the splash by turning her kayak toward
the whale and paddling like a girl on a mission. I asked, “Are we going to the
whale?” She responded, “We’re going to the whale!” There was giggling from our
kayak and Huffygirl said it was cute that I was so excited. As we paddled,
keeping our eyes on anything that looked in any way whale-like, Bri explained
some things about keeping a respectful distance from sea life so we paddled
slightly behind her so we wouldn’t break any rules. Visions of my incident with
sea turtles and the turtle police in Hawaii flashed through my mind.
About a hundred and fifty yards in front of us, the whale
surfaced with a graceful arch of its back. “It’s a Humpback!”, Bri cried out.
It was beautiful and dark and amazing. I was amazed we were seeing this all
from the vantage point of a kayak. Then I thought about the size of the whale
and the size of us on a kayak. Huffygirl said she would protect us. Luckily I
have enough confidence in who and what I am to tell her thanks so very much. We
paddled slower and kept watching as we neared to buoys that marked the outer
reaches of the La Jolla preserve.
“There!!” came from Bri. We looked and saw the whale’s
majestic tail in the air. Seemed to be waving a graceful greeting and then it
slipped into the water and was gone. That was the last we saw of the whale that
entered and left our lives for the space of 15 minutes but left an indelible
mark on our memories. The splash like nothing I’d ever seen… The graceful
rounded back breaking the water’s surface… and finally the split tail as the
final sign of the whale’s entrance into and departure from this day’s journey.
We started the day with a plan to explore a warm spot on the edge of North
America and ended up having an experience of a lifetime. I hope our whale
friend feels the same way.
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| We were too excited to have our camera ready, but this is pretty much what we saw... |
