Several years ago a good friend and I planned to go whale watching in DePoe Bay, Oregon. We were booked on a Zodiak with local Marine Biologist, Carrie Newell, who names and tracks the gray whales that settle off the coast every summer. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for travel, so we were forced to watch from the shore. A week or so ago, we again made plans again to to join the tour, hoping that heavy smoke and weather factors wouldn’t interfere with our quest. Yesterday morning, I made the two-and-a-half hour drive to the Pacific, after my friend got the official “go” from Carrie and her team. 

I was reminded that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed in this area, and that we entered the Pacific from “the world’s smallest harbor,” under the famous bridge where Jack Nicholson’s character, Randle “Mac” McMurphy, staged his escape from the hospital by fishing boat. I’ll have to re-watch this classic today. The Zodiac is an inflatable sea-worthy vessel that Jacques Cousteau made popular to the public in his diving explorations. We had a comfortable seat, manned with a camera and Go Pro. However, visibility was limited by a thick fog, Carrie and her dog, Kida, led the charge on this “rollercoaster” ride over the waves. We were in search of the whale she named Morisa, and every time we got close, Kida would start barking. Apparently, she could smell the beast, while Carrie knew the whale’s patterns, having followed her for the last seventeen years. 

With each sighting, the dog would go wild and Carrie would urge the female gray to come closer. Unfortunately, all we got were several “hump” shots and bubbles, in conjunction with a couple of “Thar She Blows” moments. We did not get “fluked.” At one point, we were close enough to see the “Crescent Moon” mark on her side and the white “dot” that initially gave her the name Morris before her sex was known. Morisa is one of numerous grays that frequent the DePoe Bay waters. It was great to have a guide that was so knowledgeable of their habits rather than someone reading from a script. The scientist and her dog was what made the trip so entertaining, whereas on other outings in Boston and Hawaii I’ve certainly seen a whale of a lot more action. 

DePoe Bay was a great escape from the dull days of virus and smoke isolation. The fresh sea air was refreshing, while we were also entertained by seven or eight California sea lions jockeying for position on the red buoy about a mile off-shore. The fog was so thick out there that we expected a Ghost Ship with tattered sails and a skeleton at the helm to float by. It looks the same out my office window this morning, but it’s smoke not fog. Hopefully, the incoming rain will clear the air and restore my view of the tree covered hills in the distance. Thankfully, I had a good fish story to write about this morning, rather than more of the same.