THE GREAT SEA MONSTERS
Warner M. Bailey
Genesis 1:21 states: “So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm.” I always wondered why the author of the first creation story called out the “great sea monsters” for special mention when describing God’s creating the marine life of the world. The scholarly explanation is that these creatures symbolized power that could strike fear in the breast of whoever encountered one of them. The creation story writer was careful to point out that even those animals who make us afraid are God’s creatures.
But I have another take on these great sea monsters. Recently my son David took me on a fishing trip off the coast of upper British Columbia. We were part of a larger party of 12 couples who lived for a week on a converted coastal patrol boat, one of the few remaining wooden tugs still in service. Every day we would venture out in skiffs to try our luck and skill at catching salmon, halibut, and ling cod. It was a most congenial make up of guests and a superb crew of captain, cook, hostess, and two guides.
The first day out, David and I were fortunate to be placed with the senior guide (probably because I was a rank novice!). We were doing rather well fishing; I had two Cohoes to David’s one! But all of a sudden our skiff was surrounded by two humpback whales. They swam right up to the edge of the boat, close enough to reach out and touch their barnacled fins! Our guide immediately shut off the motor.
We were of course amazed, shocked, awed. For the next 45 minutes these whales cavorted around our little boat. They dove; they corkscrewed; they rolled over to give their eyes a good look at us; they showed their mouths (fortunately they were closed). Over and over again they put on a show for us. Only once did they gently bump our boat.
A favorite trick of theirs was to come up close to the boat and vent their lungs with a huge spray of water and whale odor. They covered us with their “blow.”
Were we afraid? No, we weren’t. Is it too much to think that they were attempting some kind of relationship with us? It certainly appeared so. It was a once in a lifetime encounter. We were very attentive, alert, respectful. We were visited by great
sea monsters. They seemed to be at play around our boat. Did we think about taking video? Not at all. Awe and amazement was our response.
As they parted from us, one of the humpback whales lifted its back tail and flipped us a good-bye.
There were many encounters with unusual sea life on this trip. The next day we were on a collision course with a pod of orcas (killer whales) who were traveling very fast on the surface. Just as they reached our boat they dove under. On another day we had a bald eagle fly over us to inspect a rockfish that we had thrown back. We observed a large seal colony. I caught an octopus (large and pink). The Lord God made them all, especially the great sea monsters.