Hit & Run

All my life, I’ve wanted to see a whale. Ever since my first National Geographic Kids, their grace and the baffling contradiction of a mammal swimming the oceans for millions of years, glimpsing a whale has hovered at or near the top of my life’s goals. Being at sea these last 3 weeks, I searched the horizon for any sign of the mighty peaceful giants every chance I got. No Luck.

Then, on a relatively calm day, we were in middle of an interview, “Thud!” My cameraman, Marlin Darrah, joked that we had just gone over the speed bump at the Equator. Funny stuff, until our utility guy John Nichols, who had been sleeping on the aft deck trying to rid himself of the nasty bug that hit half the ship in Peru, told us that he had been jarred awake only to see a whale fin turn over in the water surrounded by lots of blood.

I don’t know how, but we managed to hit one of the most gentle, graceful animals in the world in the middle of the freaking ocean. I can’t help but feel responsible, having prayed to the ocean gods to catch a glimpse of my childhood fantasy.

Almost as sad – I still haven’t seen a whale.