My Whale Encounter

On a walk along the high banks of Pickering Passage in Puget Sound Mid January of this year, I spotted a large object floating in the water just off shore. I suspected it was a Whale, and if so, it was probably no longer living. I decided to grab my kayak so I could go out and take a closer look. You can imagine how I felt, in a one man boat, as I began paddling out after a Whale!

By the time I caught up with it, the current had pulled it closer to shore near the tip of the Island. I actually could have just kept walking…..in any event, the ride was lovely and it still allowed for a much closer look – and touch!

The thought of a dead whale would normally bring up feelings of sadness and sorrow, but as I approached, I was swept up with anticipation. It felt much more like a gift than an omen. And I had her all to myself for a short time, before another Kayaker and other onlookers from shore caught up to the scene. In those private moments, I remembered seeing a native Indian dance where the woman moved their arms, side to side, in the motion of paddling a canoe. With that image in my mind, I circled the magnificent being, stirring the water with my paddle in blessing.

After the blessing, I suddenly remembered the other amazing gift I had seen only the day before. I quickly realized that the Whale had already been blessed in her passage. I had walked to the end of the dock in the Marina the day before, when the sun broke through the clouds giving the raindrops that wonderful “sparkler” effect when they hit the water. A rainbow soon appeared, and I was in awe how it made a perfect half circle from shore line to shore line on either side of the passage. Then the water became so still that the entire rainbow became reflected on the surface creating a full circle. To top it off - the 2 posts of the tall piers, including their reflection, fit just between the mid point of the top of the rainbow, and the midpoint of the bottom half in the reflection. It was the same passage where I spotted the Whale the next day. Her passage was already blessed!

The Whale was about 35ft long, and had latitudinal pleats and groves that started below the mouth, and extended along the underbelly, to a small slit where she would have given birth had she survived. In all my years, I never once imagined I would see a Whale’s vagina up close!

I later learned that she was most likely a Sei Whale, probably about 1 year old. They reach up to 65 feet long when mature. They are also very rare these days off the Pacific Coast, and are usually only found in deep waters. She must have been pulled in by a ship or become lost to appear in the shallow waters of the Puget Sound.(According to Cascadia Research Team)

She drifted away that evening and the next morning I came back to the same beach where she had rested off shore the day before. Near the driftwood, the nights high tide had left a formation of ripples in the sand. They were the same shape and length as the pleats and groves on the Whales belly. It had never occurred to me before how similar the prints the water leaves in the sand are to the underbelly of a Whale.

Oh…the many wonders… all the magic… beyond our imagination… at work every day. My Rainbow Whale encounter experience was truly a gift, and a gift meant to be shared.

It turned out this gift will be shared.

It was actually found to be a Bydre's, which is even more rare! Scroll down a bit further for the Time's article link. The end of her long journey couldn't be more fitting!
This story ran Full page, full color on Valentines Day!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011068857_whale14m.html

I'm eternally grateful the whale ended up with the Squaxin Tribe.

Infinate Blessings. I Just put my picture of her on my profile.

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