There Be Whales Here!

June 20, 2008 in Pictures | View Comments

Beluga WhaleImage by Ava Lowery via FlickrOne of my favorite picture books when I was little featured pages and pages of whales. By the time my sister and I outgrew that book, my mom must have hated it, because I think we read it almost every night. One of the whales in the book was a beluga whale, and the only picture I've ever seen of a beluga whale was in that book. I don't ever remember seeing another one, on TV, in another book, or anywhere. Probably because I never looked. But I remember exactly what that picture of that beluga whale looked like.

Today, at the Georgia Aquarium, I saw an actual real-life beluga whale. He was beautiful. It was like staring at some fairytale creature from my childhood, watching it jump off the page of a magical book and come to life right before my eyes. He swam and blew bubbles and sang, and he looked like a big white angel to me. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Breathtaking, beautiful, larger than life.

Do you have a storybook moment that became real life to you? Did you get as wacky and emotional about it as I did? (I swear, I nearly cried, watching that big, beautiful white whale dance.)
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  • M.Brayfield

    We had Beluga Wales at the Minnesota Zoo when I was a kid. Beautiful creatures. I think I actually cried when they took them away not long before we moved (I don’t recall the reason).

    The only moment like that that I can think of was a family trip to New York City when I was a teenager. It was overall kind of a crappy vacation. My mom and I were both on that time of the month and we only really had a day and a half in the city. My mom’s from NJ, so it wasn’t any big deal to her and she couldn’t get why I wanted to linger. We even got in a fight over which Broadway show to see.

    But. It was my first time on a subway. And I remember standing in Times Square just staring and listening. We walked from Times Square down to Central Park and I just remember a sense of awe. All these places I heard about or seen in books, TV and movies. I’ve never been back since, but I’ve always wanted to, if for no other reason then to just to explore it for myself.

  • Skye Forbes

    What are you doing in Atlanta?

  • Sonja Foust

    Merinda, I hope you get to go back to New York someday! I myself have only been there for about 5 or 6 hours and I wish I could go back with a native, someone to show me the REAL New York sights. :)

  • Sonja Foust

    Skye, BMX of course. ;) That’s the only reason we ever go anywhere. Heehee.

  • Robert P

    Couple cool water mammal moments when I lived in St. Augustine. First day there I went out back to sit on the dock. Within a couple minutes a manatee rolled over the surface right next to me. Went in to tell everyone because I was so excited. Ends up no one EVER sees manatees there, once every couple years. I never saw one there in the next five years.

    There were big tanks out back where they treated sick dolphins and such, went out one day cause I heard a ruckus and there was a whale in there. It had beached and they were treating it and eventually released it. Pretty cool to see and touch up close.

    Last story, was out surfing one day and a whole pod of dolphins starting playing with me, cool part was it was the ONLY time I ever saw baby dolphins. Just tiny little things, they surfed “along” with me on a little wave then disappeared back to mama.

  • Sonja Foust

    Wow, that IS neat! I remember the first time I ever saw dolphins swimming at the coast. It’s pretty magical. I think there’s something about the ocean that makes it more so because it’s just not something we’re really a part of. When we get to see stuff like that, we’re sort of a guest in their world. :)

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