22 May 2024

WHALES! and Other Wonders

 

The video shows dolphins guarding a mother whale giving birth to keep the sharks from attacking.

This week, poet friends, we are contemplating whales, and other wonders. 

Not only are whales extremely intelligent, magnificent and awe-inspiring creatures, the biggest whales store more carbon in their bodies than trees! Amazing. Nature’s design is beautiful and interconnected. If only we humans understood this better.

Whales are having a difficult time surviving now, between warming seas, the impact of climate on the plankton they need to survive, and ship traffic. The noisy boat engines hurt their ears, which interferes with their echolocation, their means of navigating and finding food. Sometimes boats collide with whales, causing injury and death. Here on the west coast of Canada, orcas are endangered, with only 74 whales left in the  southern resident pod.

I live on a whale highway. Grey whales pass by Tofino in great numbers every spring, on their migration from the birthing grounds in Baja, to the feeding grounds along this coast all the way up to Alaska. 

Some of the greys stay here for the summer as residents. Occasionally there is one, called a “friendly”, who becomes accustomed to visiting whale watchers. Sometimes one will approach the excursion boats, and interact with the awed passengers, a blessing and a wonder. There are regulations requiring boats to keep a distance away from whales, but when one of them approaches a boat, it is the whale’s choice. Boats turn their motors off when in feeding bays, or as soon as they spot a whale in the area. Drifting in a zodiac puts one at the same level as the whales, so you sometimes get an up close and personal encounter.



Once a grey whale dove right beside the boat I was in, thrilling me to my toes. When you look into a whale’s eye, it is like gazing at the eye of God. Their breath is ancient – they are of another world than the one we inhabit – one infinitely wiser and more attuned to nature. They have high intelligence, and I am amazed that they are still willing to be friendly to humans, after we have hunted and driven them nearly to extinction. But I believe they can sense our energy, and maybe they only approach peaceful souls.

I once flew over the feeding grounds in Ahous Bay in a small seaplane and saw the gentle giants from above, a truly amazing sight, never to be forgotten.

A West Coast woman I met once, Alexandra Morton, has devoted her life to whale research (and the fight to save the wild salmon stocks the orcas need to survive.) She lives in the Broughton Archipelago, among the resident pods. She tells a story of the night she was out in her boat and a thick fog came in, so dense she couldn’t find her way to her dock. Out of the mist, a pod of orcas came, surrounding her boat. They guided her right to her dock, then silently swam away. They knew she was a “friendly.” I love this story so much, as it shows the intelligence and compassion of these amazing creatures.

The videotape above captured an amazing situation in False Bay, off the coast of South Africa some months ago. A mother whale was giving birth, and sharks were gathering to take her calf. Suddenly hundreds of dolphins came and thrashed around the mother whale in circles to keep the sharks away. They stayed with her until she and her baby were safe.

Amazing. Mind blown. Wonders.

So today, we will contemplate whales, in all of their majesty, beauty and other-wordliness. I can’t wait to read your poems about this creature I love so much!

OR

You may prefer to write with a wider lens, about the ocean or whatever body of water you live close to. You might be concerned about the effects of the climate crisis on the lives of water creatures.

OR

You might have a story about a creature helping a human, or another creature, as in the stories above.

Go in whatever direction these topics lead you.

Please visit your fellow poets and try to check back for those who link later in the week. I love reading your responses in all your different voices. 




21 comments:

  1. Happy Wednesday, poet friends! Hope you are having a good week. I'm looking forward to the poems you share this week. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the wonderful prompt - Jae

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What an amazing poem, Jae! All through, the journey, the dream, the appreciation, and then finally this: "We will always remember this
      The path of the whale
      Like us it moves
      All of us on a journey
      All of us at peace
      Crowned with a glitter of excitement
      A jetting blow hole of hope."

      Delete
    2. Thank you Susan - sorry you can't link straight to my blog - Jae

      Delete
  3. I love whales and can't wait to read the poems shared here. Thank you for the prompt, Sherry!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your beautiful poem hit close to home, Kim, as you will see from my comment on your site. I love whales so much! They are amazing creatures.

      Delete
  4. For Annell: How wonderfully you capture the other wonders! I love especially the hermit crabs who would "They would march along the glass / And show off their shells."

    ReplyDelete
  5. How wonderful it must be most of the time to live on a whale highway, to be able to see whales regularly in your own environment. And what a wonderful video you shared of the dolphins guarding the mother whale as she was giving birth. Your prompt inspired / is inspiring some good poetry, Sherry. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is always such a wonderment to see the whales. I was amazed at that video too, and how the creatures help each other. So wonderful.

      Delete
  6. I have little to say about whales but managed to recall the one time I saw them while traveling the Pacific Coast Highway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you stopped by, Shay. I love that highway so much, I travelled it a couple of times, and it is breathtaking.

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the wonderful prompt, Sherry. A little late in entering, and it's a little old (wo)man and the sea-ish, but not at all Hemingway-esque, though brief!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Sherry,
    Thought provoking article and that motivated me to participate. I wrote nothing about the whales, but a self contemplating poem, not sure if it fits the prompt, nevertheless. Thank you very much for hosting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you joined in, Kitty. I especially liked the butterflies in your poem.

      Delete
    2. Thank you very much, Sherry. I'm glad you enjoyed. :)

      Delete
  9. I am a bit late to visit everyone as I am traveling again. It's so heartening to read the lovely responses to your wonderful prompt Sherry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Safe travels, Sumana. I love all the responses - it is so good to share our different voices in our poems.

      Delete