Failing Whales

We arrived in Cape Town with plenty of time to run our errands so we spent our arrival roaming a bit around town and checking out Internet. Online I was able to find a camera repair shop down just a five-minute drive from where we were staying but couldn’t find it on our map, so we decided to give them a call first. No answer. I let the phone ring about a dozen times and realized it being Saturday, they might not be open until Monday, and we were leaving Tuesday. We went back to the internet shop and left an urgent message for their help. Hopefully we will hear something first thing Monday morning and they can work a little magic for my sake.
Walking around town we found a few surf shops but none would take Jason’s board. They did however help us out and told us which beach to go to that had numerous shops that should definitely take our board. With nothing else going on and some drab weather stumping any outdoor activities we decided to head to the beach. The other folks were right that there would be numerous shops around and one took Jason’s board for 20Rands less than we paid, ultimately making Jason’s “rental” about $10 US dollars for two weeks! He struck an awesome deal. The other surf shops we found were oddly closed early and a closer look told us why. Apparently there was a beached whale on the other side of the cape and surf shops and people with wetsuits go out to help. Jason and I weren’t sure what the deal was but thought to check it out.
When we arrive at Kommetjies Beach it was closed off by crime scene tape, but you just walk right under it, by a few police officers and you see so many other people, some police, and marine rescuers. Must be a big whale – we thought. But unfortunately, no, that was not the case. It ended up that around 7am this morning a pod 55 pilot whales found themselves beached. When we got there around 3pm, there were people with the whales trying to get them back in the water, but if they did, the whale would be too tired and disoriented it would turn back towards the beach. It was really sad to watch being as helpless as we were. Jason and I both agreed that had we had wetsuits, we would be trying to help. We truly tired not to gawk at this situation, but it isn’t something you see everyday and somehow we couldn’t look away. The area of beach we were on had 4 whales right in front of us, a few to the left and the rest where about 50 meters to the right. Of all the whales, we would see people get two whales successfully past the break. The waves were big and strong and the poor whales were so tired and exhausted, getting past the break would be their biggest hurdle. The third whale we watched just barely past the break and once passed it he just floated there in the water. He was too tired to move and we all watched, biting our nails, hoping hoping, hoping he would make it free. “Come on little whale, you can do it” was all anyone was thinking and saying. But alas, his efforts were in vain and the whale was beached once again; and as we would find out, for the last time. We had heard some weird sounding “clacks” off to the right beach where all the other whales were and couldn’t figure out what it was, until it got closer. The clack we heard was that of a rifle and it seemed the marine rescue people decided it was best to put the whales down, all of them. By the time the gunman got closer, our whale number three was partially back in the water with a little human help. The fourth whale that was in front of us was alive, but so embedded in the sand that it there was no hope. There were people with him, stroking his side and fins, trying to keep him wet and calm, but he would never be back in the water and he was put down. The echo of the rifle when it goes off twenty feet from where you are standing is a very eerie feeling. The vibration of the echo is so loud and strong it goes through you, shakes your insides, and makes your bones ache, especially because you just saw a whale being shot. What makes it worse is that the marine rescue was now calling for the people with our whale number three to bring him in from the water to be shot. What??? It seemed the was decision made and it had to be done quickly. The whales had been beached for 8 hours now and the sun was starting to set. There were many more whales to be put down along the beach, there wasn’t much time left and with sharks starting to feed, it was probable that the whale wouldn’t make it on his own and now the rescue people in the water would be in danger as well. Jason and I didn’t wait around at this point. We were so much hoping that our whale would make it that we couldn’t bare to watch or hear the rifle that would end his life.
It was a really quiet drive back to Cape Town. Jason and I didn’t have much to say considering what we had just seen. We were both sad and a little shocked by what we had just seen, but both agreed that weren’t sorry that we saw it. We had a few comments to each other about why we were allowed to see it, questioned whether if we had been at home if we would have seen it or if it would have the same outcome. A lot of our answers seemed to go back to the ability of the police units to regulate the beach and the available people and equipment for the marine rescuers. Maybe if we were at home it could have had the same outcome but we certainly wouldn’t have been able to watch. We realized that the few policemen who had closed the beach had very little power to stop the hundreds of people who flocked there to see the whales. They desperately tried to tell everyone to go home over the loud speaker, but had no power to enforce it. They were outnumbered. I remember the man saying desperately on the microphone, “The beach has been closed, please get off the beach, please, for the sake of your children, please go home.” He was right, but it didn’t change anything. Jason and I had to come again to the realization that the country, despite its efforts, was still strides behind in their law/enforcement departments, amongst many other things.
We would arrive back at our hotel at 5:20, with just 10 minutes to find a place to sit and watch the rugby match, but in all honesty, we weren’t quite in the mood. We dropped the car off at the hotel and walked around a bit to find a place. The first place we found, we found ourselves out of place in a place not playing rugby, only soccer. So we wandered around a bit more and finally found an Irish Pub to watch the match. It would be standing room only with all TVs on rugby. South Africa beat to shame the New Zealand team, but it was all fun to watch (especially now since I actually understand rugby). We felt a little easier and enjoyed the rest of our night at the pub. Maybe with some sleep we will be able to come to terms with our day and move on.

Days Traveled: 54
Distance Traveled:
Realized: that the right decision may be the hardest.