As the year 2017 comes to a close, we had a special guest sighted in our offshore waters. On December 17th, a Humpback whale was seen breaching in the Atlantic off of Stuart!
Although these mammoth creatures do migrate, and thus navigate our seas, this is a special and rare site.
Perhaps this is time for reflection…
Just as with the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale, the Native People also give whale sightings and experiences special significance.
According to native lore, “whales visitors/spirits were used to convey a message of power and might, representing the need for strong, silent deliberation.”
In the story of Jonah, having turned away from responsibility, and being thrown as “bad luck” from a ship, Jonah is swallowed by a giant whale, reflects, repents, is renewed, is given a second chance, is ejected, and fulfills his responsibilities….
Perhaps there is a lighter message from our visiting whale, like “Happy Holidays,” and “Merry Christmas,” or a fun breach-splash saying “Yahoo! Keep up the fight for clean water!”
For me, the whale visitation made me reminisce on Ed and my visit to Baja, in 2013, to visit the Grey Whales once slaughtered, and now a great tourist attraction, and how this experience of seeing these huge mammals adapt to our human world, especially the mothers with their calves,–the controversy, and alteration in both human and whale actions—– changed my life, and my outlook forever.
In any case, the season is upon us and I am grateful for all of the work done this year for our waters and for our Florida. Thank you River Warriors! Thank you Bullsugar! Thank you Captains for Clean Water! Thank you people of Florida! Thank you President Negron! Thank you all, so many others across our great state! And in closing, thank you visiting whale!
Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated, but like Winston Churchill said: “Never Give Up.” Our work is so important!
…Yes, in 2018, in spite of the difficulties, we will continue to be the strong, silent or screaming giant that dominates the conscience of Florida…
Watch TCPalm video here: http://www.tcpalm.com/videos/news/local/martin-county/2017/12/18/video-humpback-whale-sighted-off-shore-near-stuart/108725684/
Video credit:
Mattanza Charters, based in Pirates Cove Resort and Marina in Port Salerno, posted video taken Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017, of humpback whales breaching near Eight Mile Reef in the Atlantic. VIDEO PROVIDED BY CAPT. MIKE MURRAY Wochit
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http://us.whales.org/species-guide/humpback-whale
I sent you a letter for which you DID NOT REPLY. Will you, please reply ???? It was regarding a subject had written about in the past.?. Tony
Dear Tony,
You sound frustrated….so sorry. I do not know what you are referring to so please re-send to the email noted on my blog site: jthurlow@me.com. Please put your name in the subject line. Thank you so much. JTL
Thank you Jacqui for all you do for our precious waters, All the best to you and Ed for a wonderful holiday holiday! Looking forward to a great new year, right? Your post was hopeful. Thank you!
I am! All the best Janet! And all good things to Vero!
Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Happy Holidays.
Drew Martin
Keep up the fight for unspoiled waters as the deadline approaches its to time tell the Florida legislature to build the big lake to catch Big Sugars runoff, Which will be south of Lake O.
James—Wasting taxpayers money to buy big sugars land will for sure destroy big sugar but it will do nothing to restore(bring back) the lagoon. Because no one there is putting calcium sand on the shores I am starting to wander if this is all about destroying the sugar industry so some other country can steal our jobs.
For those who have not been following this blog—-The coquina formations have all been removed for fertilizer and —pave roads and build sea walls. These formations were liveing formations and kept our lagoon clean and healthy.. Pee and poop(ammonia and HCL) from all the creatures would all wash to shore with sea grass and other organic material.This would all churn violently in coquina shells. Tremendous amounts of desolved oxygen(DO) from the acids and base reaction would speed up many chemical reactions.. The DO would speed up the reaction between the ammonia and HCL forming calcium cloriide salt . The DO would also form micro bubbles on the shells far off shore and make them light so the would “float” to shore in storms.I think there is a spiritual lesson that should be learned from what happens when everyone takes and takes and does not put back.
8 more dead fish at 13rh tee pond today Sent from my iPhone
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