Friday, April 16, 2010

Nope, No Whales

"The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day." — The White Queen

Friday. People out on the point told me that there were multiple whales off First Beach on Wednesday, breaching. Humpbacks, maybe, said the informant, who was passing on hearsay. Another person told me that she was at the Quileute's 'Welcome The Whales' ceremony on Thursday and there were whales everywhere (she pointed in three directions). This was at least an eyewitness report.

The Ocean Prediction Center said the sea would be very quiet. Three foot swells, excellent conditions for looking for gray whale blows. It was true as to swells, but as to whales, well no. I went out to look after putting in some (spacey) time at the tribal library, 'cause last week SA & I hadn't seen any, and on Sunday I'll need to go to Rialto Beach to do the April beached birds survey, no messing around failing to see whales at First Beach. So I went to La Push. And again failed to see any blows. I'm not sure I've ever succeeded without being helped to focus by other folks nearby who were already seeing— but nobody on the point there was seeing them either. While not seeing whales I did manage to read about a hundred pages of Peter Hessler's book, which has suddenly become riveting after a slow start.

Quiet Ocean off First Beach, La Push, April 16, 2010 (Click for larger image.)
Boat Coming in to La Push, April 16, 2010 (Click for larger image.)

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