The dolphins were HUGE!

I think it was three years ago when I first prayed that I would see a huge whale. I was at the beach, of course, and as I stared at the expanse of Pacific ocean laid out so beautifully before me, I just thought it would be fabulous to see the largest living mammal pop up to the surface and spout before continuing on his merry way to wherever it was he was headed. As I stared at the ocean I saw...the ocean. The ocean alone is terrific to look at, but I continued to pray and ask God for a whale sighting every time we came to the beach.
In a lifetime of beach going, I have found that it is common to see seals. (Well, here, I think they are actually sea lions, but I just call them all "seals.") Usually, you just see their little heads bobbing in and out of the water, and sometimes they playfully roll and dive and put on a great show. (Rabbit trail story time...After one of my miscarriages, I was at the beach , and I swear to you, the water was just teaming with sea lions. They were rolling all around, and it looked exactly like how a baby moves in a mama's tummy...and I took it as a sign that there would indeed be life rolling around in my tummy again... And there was. End of rabbit trail.)
A handful of times, I have seen otters swimming, and I think that they are some of the cutest sea animals in existance. Otters should win an award for their cuteness, and they are espescially cute if you see them live, swimming on their backs across the water's surface. But I had never seen a whale, and so I continued to pray to see one. And I continued to see...nothin'. But I am not opposed to praying that God will put little creatures in front of me. Because why not? I may never see any, but what do I have to lose for asking? (Now, if the critter or creature you are asking to spot out in the wild is actually a large carnivorous land animal, then you may have a lot to lose, namely your life.)
Then one day, when the summer was almost over, My entire family got an incredible show. We didn't see any whales, but we did see...DOLPHINS! and not just one or two! There were LOTS and LOTS of them! And they kept jumping and splashing and playing in the water, far out, and we were able to watch them for about an hour before they passed.
Since that summer, I have sometimes prayed to see whales, sometimes not. But I always spend a lot of time watching the ocean. Just three weeks ago, when I was at the beach with some friends, my friend Amy saw what appeared to be a whale, all the way out on the edge of the horizon, and it was spouting. She pointed to where she saw it, and when I looked, I saw...nothing, again. But then a few minutes later, I saw it's tail flicking up and back into the water. And I felt satisfied that my whale of a prayer had finally been answered.
Last week, when I was so determined to take the kids to beach by myself, my prayer was more like this: God, could you just bring out all the sea creatures you can think of? Just put on a huge Shamu show for us with dolphins, seals, otters, and whatever else you think would delight us? Just go crazy with it!" Well, if you read that day's post you know that as soon as we pulled up to the beach, there was a school of dolphins swimming right in front of us. I did not think that was a coincidence.
Now comes the paragraph where I explain the title of this post. (If you are still reading, you are a superstar for hanging in there. Pat your own back for yourself, since I can't be there to do it for you.) As you recall from yesterday's post, we took a surprise trip to the beach after school. Right away, we saw sea lions, of course. But a few hours after we arrived, we saw dolphins...and they were HUGE...because they were so close to shore...so close, in fact, that ocean loving Kristina was spooked enough to jump back onto land, ,even though she was hardly in the surf at all... Derek thinks that they were about 40 feet out from shore, but I think that they were closer. They were close enough that I could clearly see the color of their fins, a dirty brownish grayish color, (when they're far out, sometimes they just look dark.) and get a good idea of their size. I'd approximate it at roughly, oh, say, Ginormous. And you can quote me on that, for free.
So if you are praying that God will show you a huge whale when you go to the beach, and you don't see one, don't give up looking. You just might see sea lions, otters, or dolphins instead...and you still might see a huge whale...three years later...as long as you don't stop looking.



P.S. This post is about seeing sea creatures from the safety of the shore. I have no desire to ever go scuba diving, and actually interacting with sea creatures IN THEIR OWN HABITAT...I don't even swim in water that may contain fish...and I have no desire to ever go on a safari, NEVER EVER EVER...I would be TERRIFIED! But you go on a scuba dive, or a safari, and come back, and show me your pictures. I will appreciate them. That's enough of the wild for me!