Koffee Klatsch

For a number of years I lived aboard my sailboat, a Fuji 45 ketch with a sleek black hull. Once, while I was returning from Catalina Island with two friends a whale breached barely a hundred yards astern of us and then swam off to the west. We were under power then, so we turned to follow and quickly lost sight. Moments later he suddenly reappeared, swimming alongside right next to us, a majestic presence almost the length of the boat. He then proceeded to play with us, diving under the hull and reappearing on the other side repeatedly before finally abandoning us. I suppose I should have been afraid, but I was too awestruck, and he showed no signs of anything but curiosity. More than anything else, I was thrilled. One thing was certain, he was huge and we were small, and we were visitors in his world, not he in ours. Lots of lessons to be learned, folks.