High-speed Chase!

As I sit and type this, my poor heart is returning to it's normal, steady pace...

A few moments ago, I heard Willie scream from the bedroom, "KILLER WHALES!". I screamed, "WHERE?". Apparently there was something out in the water hunting something, and he had a great view! I was feeding Noora but that didn't stop me...I sprang from the couch with her still attached to me, ran into the bedroom, sat her on the bed (not the super high King-size bed, but the old one on the floor), pushed Willie aside and looked.

Yes, it appeared there were about five or more dorsal fins swarming something in the water. Could it be? Could my beloved whales be just outside my window???? They swam into my blind spot so I ran into our bedroom, jumped up onto the ridiculously-high bed and looked out the window. AHHHHH!!! I'm not sure if I was even breathing...excitement filled the house. I heard Willie promptly announce we would run down to the beach to film whatever was in the water. Before I was even off the bed, he had Noora wrapped in a blanket, his sneakers on and was at the door. I grabbed the camera and slipped on my moccasins (really, at a time like this who wants to untie and retie sneakers!). Off we went, down the stairs, along the side of the house, through the secret patch in the bushes, down the stairs in front of his parent's house and across the road to the playground. In all of this hustling, somehow I had acquired Noora and Willie had gone to search for binoculars in the house.

There...out in the water, too far away to get on camera, but able to see without problem were several fins, surfacing the water. What were they? Could they really be killer whales? The fins looked too small..they were circling too closely...Could they be young Orcas, or smaller females hunting? Maybe they were porpoises. Willie suggested the possibility of sea lions...but that wouldn't explain the dorsal fins. I wished I could swim out and investigate, or hop into a boat. I wanted to follow them...I think they were after the herring but instead of swimming closer, they started to follow their prey out into the water.

The rain started to pick up and we decided to head back before it soaked us. Poor Noora was only in a blanket and her pj's and neither of us had our jackets. My moccasins were soggy but I didn't care. The excitement of the chase was flowing through my veins. My heart beat wildly at the thought of catching a glimpse of my whales. In all honesty, the dorsal fins we saw could have been the tails or flippers of the sea lions...at that distance, and without binoculars, anything is possible. But that's no loss...who else gets to see sea lions outside of an aquarium!! I get them right here on my front doorstep! Porpoises? Even better!

I can wait for the whales...if one thing can make all of these horrible winter storms worth it, it's knowing that I will see the whales return from their holidays in the South in April. Grey whales. Fin whales. Humpback whales. Killer whales. Who shall I meet next year?