Excerpted with permission
Santa Marina News
By Darren Michaels
Santa Marina, California
May 13, 2024 A pod of whales was sighted off the coast three days ago. They had been slowly circling like an oversized carousel for over twenty-four hours, always in the same position. It was and is not uncommon for whales to cruise our shorelines but rare that they would stand off shore at the same location for such a long period of time. Marine biologists and researchers from the University of Northern California were taken out to the site by local fisherman, tinuing their migration to the northern seas. Instead they floated en masse in the relatively shallow waters 300 meters or so off shore. Then, early this morning I received a call that the pod had suddenly broken from their schooled mass and spread themselves both north and south along the coast, and all was as if in coordi - nation. Where once was a massive cluster of nearly 50 whales now a single line spread almost evenly in the waters along the beach. The advantage of being the owner of your own small-town newspaper and a pilot has its payoff as I was able to quickly get to my plane at the airfield and be flying over the site in less than 30 minutes from the call. From an altitude of 500 feet I was afforded a clear view of the line of whales whose glistening bodies gently rolled with the shallow waves from the beginning of the out-going tide. Then, inexplicably they turned and began swimming toward the beach. In disbelief I watched as one-by-one the whales beached themselves. 4.This was not a gentle maneuver as if they were being washed up on the shore by the waves but rather a forced physical effort to drive themselves high up onto the gravelly beach. Once there they began to suffer in earnest. All was the same as each of the whales lunged out of the water. The only variation was a large bull whale that tried to turn back as he neared the shore. His escape efforts were in vain as others of the pod rammed into him broadside. The sheer momentum of the pod drove him up onto the shoreline with the others. Above the beach, concerned townsfolk from Santa Marina began to show up, maybe twenty or so hardy souls. Soon they had all moved down to the shoreline, desperately trying to push the whales back into the deeper water. No matter how they concerted their efforts the whales were of one mind and that was to maintain their position on the beach. I circled above the scene for nearly two hours before fuel became an issue. I returned to the airfield and quickly refueled. By the time I returned some of the whales had al - ready died. Over the next several hours most of the pod was either dead or dying. It was during my constant circling of the beach that I noticed one solitary whale floating just below the surface of the water offshore. I probably wouldn’t have sighted the whale at all save for the fact that the whale was pure white, high contrast with the deep mystic blue of the Pacific. The white whale lying dormant in the water facing the shore, its flukes gently moving against the tide to help maintain that position. It was odd but there was a sense that the whale was watching the frantic activity onshore. Occasionally it would break away and swim parallel to the shore but always at the same distance from the dry side of the beach. 5.Cell phone contact with a friend of mine, Peter Twofin an assis- tant trainer at Water Whirled who was one of many trying to save the whales, told me that all the whales save for two large adults were dead. He indicated that their prognosis was grim at best. As I began to bank turning back to the airport I watched as the white whale like the others before began swimming towards the shore. People dashed from the shore to head it off, but it was obvious that their efforts would have little effect. And, if all that had happened was not odd enough already, suddenly two dolphins breached near the whale. In the most amazing concerted effort the two much smaller mammals were able to turn the massive white whale ramming at it head on, eventually turning it back to the depths. My fuel was impossibly low, and so it was that I raced back, refueled and again, flew back to the shoreline. By the time I returned the white whale and the dolphins were nowhere to be seen. The onshore activity had turned from a frenzied rescue to slow-moving remorse as the town’s people stood about watching helplessly as the last two whales died. I was depressed beyond words. Why would these marvelous creatures do such a thing? What an awful waste of life!
