Diamond Whale Tail Duet Bracelet

At night, I could hear the whales
surfacing near my tent.

When I was 17, I went kayaking for several days on the St. Lawrence River, just northeast of Quebec City, Canada. We camped on a grassy slope by the river within a couple hundred feet of the water. At night, cozy and warm in my sleeping bag, I could hear whales surfacing for breath as they cruised the river highway. Their presence in the dark, such a short distance from where I lay, was a dream-like experience.

Many whale species visit the St. Lawrence River during the summer months to feast on a buffet of cold-water fish and plankton. The world’s largest creature, the blue whale, is one of the summer visitors.

Researchers adventure out in Zodiacs, armed with telephoto cameras to tag and study these giants of the ocean. I was surprised to learn that much remains a mystery. Even today, we know little about where the blue whales that visit Canada in the summer retreat to come winter. We gather fragments and piece together their lives like a jigsaw puzzle.

The ocean deep is a place of many secrets yet to be revealed. It’s a foreign, alien world. Our visits are brief, restricted by technology and our own biology. When we are lucky, the whales visit us. We catch brief glimpses of them as they surface, kiss the sky, then tuck, tail flip, and dive back into their world. -S.P.

Diamond Whale Tail Duet
Bracelet

Scientists identify whales by their unique tail shape and tail markings. Our bracelet has two graceful whale tails, distinctly marked with brilliant diamonds. One tail is brightly polished while the other has a matte finish.

Awesome symbol of Earth’s
greatest creatures

The Parent’s Angst

I’m the parent of this kid who went whale watching with his high school classmates. The kids got to choose their outdoor adventure: hiking, river rafting, or kayaking with whales on the St Lawrence Seaway. I asked Stephen if he felt any angst about being in a skinny plastic boat out among whales swimming, diving, and surfacing. He said not at all. I asked if anyone else in his group felt any trepidation. He said he didn’t remember any. As his parent, listening to him describe it I felt a clear sense of uneasiness even 20 years later.

Whale watching and tail of a humpback whale in the St Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada

Stephen said it was a tradition in his high school to do the outdoor experience thing. He said it was the first week of September, two teachers, two vans, six girls, six guys, three nights tenting on the St. Lawrence. He said it was in the 60s and overcast. Mornings, the teachers cooked breakfast, scrambled eggs and ham on a propane stove. Then, after breakfast, they would slip orange and yellow Kayaks into the river and the group would paddle out. He said the river flowed slowly, was 200 feet deep, and quite wide. They would paddle out 250 – 500 feet to where whales surfaced to breathe. Sometimes, they would see a tail. The whales in September were Finbacks at 60 feet and Minke at 20 feet, The Blue whales the Earth’s largest creatures were in the St Lawrence from June – October. They saw no blue Wales. They were just kids out on an adventure, they weren’t doing any serious science.
-R.H.P.