May 28, 2013

• A Whale of a Time

  So I recently mentioned on @Nushirox2 ‘s blog that I took care of a whale once, and tbh it probably deserves more than a short comment to explain

  Me and my bro were dog sitting for a friend one evening when our parents arrived at 23:00 or something like that with wet suits and tales of somekind of Whale rescue going on. We were quite tired and a bit confused but hopped in the car and we drove off half way down the Island on which we live to a Loch (Scottish word for sea inlet) where this smallish Whale had gotten a bit lost and come ashore.

  It was a horrid night with rain and gusty wind, plus as always here the water was no where near anything that you might consider warm but there was a dedicated bunch of alternatives and hippies gathered round to do right by our oceanic mammalian friend

  I think if I recall correctly it was about 9 or 10 foot long though it might have been more and had been taken near a pier and contained until the morning when they would guide it out and hope that its messed up radar wouldn’t send it right back into the land.

  The problem is that Whales ain’t meant to sit still near the land for very much time and they most certainly ain’t meant to have their skin exposed to the air for more than a few mins at a time, this poor little chap was looking at a whole night of inactivity and exposure…or worse a short hard trip into a rocky shore.

  So working in shifts us land monkies took turns moving its tail, massaging it and making sure to apply plenty lubricating jelly stuff to its back so as to stop the skin from degrading and peeling off (which it would quite easily if you weren’t careful) the whole night was quite tiring VERY cold and rather bizarre, since in groups of 3 or 4 we’d troop down the pier hop in the water and sit with this big Whale, stroking, moving and in some cases singing to it to make sure it was calm and relatively happy

  Thankfully there was a few nice warm dry suits knocking about and plenty hot coffee and biscuits and by the time we left it was getting close to dawn and so far the beast was still alive and kicking…well flapping.

  Though we had gone home the hardcore group stuck with it and by morning they had gotten a plan sorted. The Whale was guided (or possibly dragged) out of the Loch and taken into deeper water where they released it. It promptly disappeared and everyone held their breath thinking the poor thing had given up the ghost, but after a moments pause it came up on the other side of the boat and blew a farewell blast from its blowhole before swimming off to the deep sea

  On the subject of the blowhole I didn’t know until that night that it is actually quite dangerous to get breathed on by a Whale as they have bacteria in the blowhole that can be harmful, so we had to watch out for that during the long night.

  Anyway it all ended well and was quite the experience, cold but rewarding.

  • 11:36 am
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