miracle whales

Three weeks ago, I went off to Monterey, California. It is a trip I make every year at this time; I return to a place I lived for nearly 15 years to see friends, to attend a scholarship fundraising auction at Cal State Monterey Bay, and to train new docents and stand watch at Point Lobos State Reserve.

Two weeks ago, I stood watch at the Information Station at Point Lobos; the station overlooks Sea Lion Point and Cove, and massive rocks just off Cypress Point. The Esalen Indians called this place, "the brink of the earth." It is a place that American poet Robinson Jeffers called, "the greatest meeting place of earth and sea." Each year the gray whales pass by, 'within spitting distance' of the rocks. They do this not once but twice, on their way south from the Bering Sea in Alaska to the gulf of Baja California in the late fall, where they have their babies. They return - even in February - from Baja, taking their babies north to feed in the Bering Sea once again.

That Sunday, as part of the early migration north, more whales than I could count moved north past the sea lion rocks off Point Lobos. The mamas and babies stopped in the quieter waters of the Cove, and fed their babies by lying on their sides. They spy-hopped; they flipped their tails; they were more active and happy than I have ever seen them. Grays are not as outgoing as humpbacks, but they were pretty 'flippy' that day. It was a breathtaking sight.

So it was with some eagerness and my usual scepticism that I went to see the movie, "the Big Miracle" tonight. I confess I cried when Bam-Bam died and chewed my fingernails when the ridge of ice was discovered, and was gloriously relieved when things came out right. It is one righteous movie! Go see it!