My Mystical Encounter With a Wild Gray Whale

Imagine being on the Pacific Ocean, 15 feet away from a wild, 40-ton, pregnant migratory whale. In January 2015, while in Laguna Beach, California, I decided to go paddleboard surfing for the first time. After signing up for a lesson, I met my instructor on the pristine beach. The Pacific Ocean was serene; there was hardly a wave breaking the shore. While still on the beach, my instructor showed me how to use my paddle to negotiate the surfboard. We took off on the ocean. As I gradually found my balance, we eventually went far from shore, and several whale sightseeing boats passed us. The passengers gasped with delight, and we were all thrilled to see a gray whale’s heart-shaped, puffy blows at the surface of the water. We paddled farther from shore to visit a group of playful seals that dived through the Pacific Ocean. I gained more confidence with paddling on my surfboard and felt connected to the marine life around me. Although the ocean surface was as still as a smooth sheet of glass, a legion of life appeared beneath the surface.

The whale I have come to call Molly—a magnificent gray whale who was 50 feet long but moved with the grace of a hummingbird—suddenly spy-hopped, not once but twice, first about 15 feet away from me and then again 30 feet away, without creating a single ripple while I remained awestruck on my surfboard. Spy-hopping occurs when a whale vertically pokes its head out of the water for a look at activity above the water’s surface. In no time our eyes met. I felt a great power emanate from her body. Molly seemed to be acting in a protective manner, like an attuned mother, by not creating a ripple, as I was shaky and learning a new skill. If whales can smile, I felt Molly was smiling and greeting me.

With her vertical half-rise out of the water, Molly’s upper body filled my entire field of vision, and I surrendered to the magical moment and remained motionless. But when our eyes gravitated toward each other, she not only evoked the divine and su