On the beach

Sometimes it takes an unexpected encounter to put your life in perspectice

by Ian Harrison

When the phone call came through, it took but a moment to dash the hopes I’d held for days. I thought I’d has an excellent chance of landing my dream job, but it wasn’t to be.

"I’m sorry," said the manager. "But if it’s any consolation, it was a close contest."

Upset at the news, i left a note for my absent wife telling het what had happened, and went for a walk to clear my head. Accompanied by my dog Phoebe i headed for the beach, wondering where I’d gone wrong. The more i thought about the job, the worse i felt, so that half an hour later i was well and truly wallowing.

Then Phoebe started barking like crazy. Distracted, i looked up to see what was happening. To my astonishment i saw a large creature lying at the water’s edge about 100 metres away. I could’nt tell what it was, but its bulk and colour led me to guess it was a dead shark.

Phoebe was standing just a few metres away from it, barking furiously. I laughed at her bravery: what a big, tough blue heeler she was, telling off a dead shark from a nice safe distance.

But i soon discovered it was not a shark. As i approached, i could see the unmistakable tail of a dolphin, but couldn’t quite believe its size. Inspecting it further i was surprised to see the blunt shape of its head seemed to be missing the characteristic dolphin nose. A little whale! It was roughly 2.5 m long, but must have weighed between 200 and 300kg.

I looked it over, but saw no evidence of injury. then, noticing what might be an eye on its blunt head, i leaned in for a closer look. Suddenly it opened, blowing wet air in my face. Not an eye, but a vent. It was breathing!

Shocked and excited, my first thought was to rescue it. But how? I didn’t think i could move it by myself, but i was alone and more than 3 km from town. There was no choice: i knew i had to do something.

I decided to try to roll it. What an effort! After much straining and grunting (Mine) and a fair bit of blowing (the whale’s), I managed to roll it a few times, timing my efforts as the waves rolled in. I was making great progress until a giant wave picked the whale up and pushed it back, despite my efforts to brace against it.

Dejected, i fell backwards underneath the whale and, as the water receded, found myself in a sitting position with the baby whale in my lap. I couldn’t move. When the next wave began to roll in, i could feel the panic rising inside me as the water quickly surged up to my chin, engulfing me. I took a deep breath and went under.

Luckily, the whale became buoyant and i was able to scramble out from under it. Regaining my composure, i quickly turned it face-first into the oncoming waves. Thankfully, it worked and with each rising wave i slowly pushed the hapless creature further and further into deeper water until it was floating. Then i pointed it out to sea.

But when the next wave came in, i was horrified to see it turned sideways again - and heading back to the shallows.

Yelling my utter frustrations at the ocean, i positioned myself between the whale and the shore once more, in a vain effort to stop it beaching again.

Not sure what more i could do to help it, i simply held the poor, exhausted thing, talking to it over and over trying to reassure it. Then, suddenly, the whale flicked its tail.

"so you’re ready now, are you?" i asked. "Are you sure about that?" You know what happened last time."

Flick Flick: the tail moved again. I waited until we were between waves so i could plant my feet firmly in the sand and theni gave it an enormous shove. Ii went under the next wave and surfaced a few metres away, slowly moving out to sea, its tail now helping to propel it along.

"yes!" I cried, as i watched it move into deeper water. Then, slowly, it started to turn.

"No, no!" i shouted, as it started to face the shore again, no more than 15 metres away.

" Don’t you dare come back here," i yelled. And, to my amazement and relief, it casually turned back around and moved further out to sea.

Exhausted but exultant, i made my way up the beach and watched. The whale didn’t seem to be in any immediate trouble so i decided to tun home and grab my wetsuit, intending to drive back and make sure it didn’t beach again.

Arriving home, i peeled off my wet clothes and donned my wetsuit.

"what the heck are you doing?" my wife asked as i ran around the house looking for my car keys.

"saving a whale," i replied. "come on, we’ve got to go!"

i scooped up our 3 yr old son and headed for the car.

Explaining the situation as we sped up the beach, i saw the whale and pointed. Way out past the breakers, in deeper water, it was floating, resting, and apparently safe. I was overjoyed.

As we sat there whale-watching in the fading light, my wife started to say how sorry she was that i’d missed out on the job. By now, i’d completely forgotten about it.

"It doesn’t matter anymore," i said, smiling.

Suddenly, what i’d accomplished today seemed far more important.