A Whale of A Tale

It is a Thursday morning at the restaurant and I am brainstorming on my down time for not only my next blog, but also a good lead for my next broadcast package. As I sit at an empty table, I look out the window and glance ahead towards the ocean and see the whale watching boat getting ready to dock our pier. Last week I told its captain, Gary, that I was thinking about doing a story on whales and spin it on their migratory pattern or something to that effect, the only thing that was holding me back is the fact that I work most weekends and I am pretty sure I might be the sea-sickness type. I decided not to go. Little did I know I would miss out on quite a story.

So when the boat known as "The Voyager" finally docked the pier, it jolted the restaurant back and forth as it usually does. I feel a churn in my stomach, as I usually do, and I think to myself, "Oh yeah, definitely the sea sick type." I take a moment to collect myself and my guts before I get up and prepare to be bombarded by the whale watchers. And bombarded I was.

Captain Gary comes in as he always does to get his small cup of black coffee. Only this time he doesn't look quite like himself...he looks, wet? He then says to me, "Amie, you really should have gone on the boat with us today. You'll never guess what just happened." He then proceeds to tell me that a woman jumped off the whale watching boat right by a grey whale. She apparently went on the boat alone and just randomly jumped off when they first spotted the whale. Gary literally had to jump in with some of the other deck hands to get the woman back on the boat. At this point I am wishing I could jump off the boat myself for missing the opportunity to have captured this whole thing for my next story.

The story gets better. I ask Gary the typical five W's and the "how" and he tells me, "Well, when we asked her why she had jumped off the boat, she said she just wanted to swim with the fishes. It was all really weird, we just turned the boat right back around and released her to police and they just let her go home."

As funny as this story may seem, it's disturbing that the lady was just let go. She obviously was or is very disturbed. I really can't believe I missed out on this story. If I had been there, I think I would have pressed authorities to contact her family or at least commit her.