Temporary Insanity

Hoo boy, the insanity has begun.

When I got to the beach this morning I saw a cluster of boats and kayaks. Among the boats from time to time was a whale spout or a whale back. "They really aren't all that far out there," I told myself as I waded into the ocean. So out I swam. And swam. And swam.

The kayakers told me, when I finally arrived, that whales were in the immediate vicinity. I waited and did see a blow about fifty yards away. Then nothing. Of course. The boats were gone by the time I got there and the kayakers soon grew bored and took off. So I waited.

A current must have grabbed me because I noticed the swells were getting bigger, much bigger, and land was getting farther and farther away. I heard another whale blow, and looked up to see a humpback whale riding down the wave above me heading in my direction. My reaction? I grabbed my camera and looked underwater.

Whales are amazingly well camouflaged and completely disappear in murky water, and I saw nothing underwater. I waited, bobbing on the surface, for another sign. Suddenly a whale breached clear of the water less than twenty yards away. WOW! WOW! I grabbed my camera but all I got was the side of a big wave.

"Enough," I told myself. "How could it get any better than this?" So I began the long, long swim back to shore. One of the whales did the courtesy of escorting me back in. Each time I would stop to rest, a whale would surface behind me less than fifty yards away. How thoughtful.

There were a couple of moments when I wasn't sure I would be able to make it, when the current seemed to be pulling me away too fast. But I kept going. What other choice did I have? And so the insanity begins...