Off North Cape — New Zealand 1974

The whale surfaced suddenly, seventy-five feet off the port bow.

He was at least sixty feet long; his back heavily encrusted with barnacles.

When he exhaled, the foul odor of his breath drifted down on us.

He seemed curious and was perhaps as fearful as we were.

We were sailing and he was swimming.

He paralleled our course for about five minutes.

As suddenly as he had appeared, he dove into the depths and was gone.

After a few minutes I went to the bow and peered down into the water.

The whale was there, swimming just under the keel.

He was on his side and I looked into his enormous eye.

Time seemed to stand still as we looked at each other,

and then he was gone forever.

He, into his blue eternity, and me, back to the world of men.

……….Martin Kalman — San Francisco — 2009