When Divers Tried To Save This Drowning Whale,
The Animal’s Response Left Them Shellshocked
When diver James Moskito arrived to help a
drowning humpback whale off the coast of California,
he was unsure if his team would be able to
rescue her.
Indeed, they tried to set the whale free for
five hours.
They’ll never forget the animal’s reaction
to them, though.
The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Californi,
has rescued injured and sick sea mammals for
more than 40 years.
The nonprofit organization treats the animals
at its research hospital before releasing
many of them back into the ocean.
Over the years, the Marine Mammal Center has
cared for over 20,000 mammals.
Most frequently, they help seals and sea lions.
However, in 2005, they had an encounter with
something much larger.
Mick Menigoz organizes whale watching tours
off the California coast, so when someone
spotted a humpback in trouble, they got in
touch with him.
He then reached out to the Marine Mammal Center
to ensure that, together, they could do everything
possible for the animal.
Menigoz set about assembling a team of divers
for the rescue.
It would be led by James Moskito, a professional
divemaster and former scuba instructor.
As soon as he heard about the situation, he
was ready to drop everything.
And the team soon reached the whale, which
was floating in waters close to the Farallon
Islands.
As it had followed its migratory route between
Baja California and the Northern Californian
coastline, the 50-foot female had become caught
up in nylon ropes used in crab fishing – and
nicknamed “blue steel.”
The ropes tethering the whale were some 250
feet long and led to a number of 90-pound
crab traps at the bottom of the ocean.
The animal was so tangled up that she was
unable to swim at all.
Above the water, though, all the divers could
see was a small portion of the whale’s head,
including her blowhole.
Later recalling the moment that he laid eyes
on the whale, Moskito told White Shark Video,
“I remember it like it was just a few minutes
ago.
The whale came up on a breast, came up, put
its eye above the surface, looked at me – I
could tell it was looking at me – and just
stayed there.”
As she struggled, the nylon ropes had cut
deeply into the whale’s flesh, ripping large
pieces of blubber from her body.
To avoid further injury, the divers had a
race against time on their hands.
They descended into the depths in order to
get a better look at what was going on beneath
the waves.
It was only as the divers got closer to the
animal that they realized just how desperate
her situation was.
“I was the first diver in the water, and
my heart sank when I saw all the lines wrapped
around it,” Moskito told The Orange County
Register in 2005.
“I really didn’t think we were going to
be able to save it.”
The ropes were twisted around the whale’s
tail and a line was running through her mouth.
And due to the weight of the crab pots that
they were attached to, the animal was being
pulled downwards.
As a result, it was a struggle to keep her
blowhole above water.
Over the course of the next five hours, the
divers worked hard to cut the whale free.
All the while, the humpback calmly floated
in the water.
It was as if she knew that the team of divers
were there to help her rather than to harm
her.
But as the whale watched the team, she was
giving off an unusual vibration, Moskito said.
“When I was cutting the line going through
the mouth, its eye was there, winking at me,
watching me,” he recalled.
“It was an epic moment of my life.”
During the rescue attempt, the team of divers
had to have their wits about them.
A jerk of a humpback’s tail is powerful
enough to cripple or kill.
Furthermore, the waters around the Farallon
Islands are known to be frequented by sharks.
However, once the divers had set the whale
free, an amazing thing happened.
Indeed, it seemed as if she was celebrating
her rescue by swimming around in circles.
She then approached each member of the team,
one by one, rubbing up against them as she
did so.
For Moskito, it was a moment that he’ll
never forget.
“It seemed kind of affectionate, like a
dog that’s happy to see you,” he said.
“I never felt threatened.
It was an amazing, unbelievable experience.”
Indeed, according to Moskito, the whale was
trying to show her gratitude to her saviors.
“It felt to me like it was thanking us,
knowing that it was free and that we had helped
it,” he said.
“It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed
me around a little bit and had some fun.”
Even Menigoz, an experienced whale watcher,
was stunned.
“You hate to anthropomorphize too much,
but the whale was doing little dives, and
the guys were rubbing shoulders with it,”
he said.
“I don’t know for sure what it was thinking,
but it’s something that I will always remember.
It was just too cool.”
Nobody knows for sure if the animal was really
trying to thank her rescuers.
However, humpbacks do appear to be more affectionate
than other whales.
“You do hear reports of friendly humpbacks,
whales approaching boaters, especially in
Baja California but, for the most part, they
don’t like to be interacted with,” Shelbi
Stoudt of the Marine Mammal Center told SFGate.
No matter what the whale’s amazing reaction
to her rescuers really meant, Moskito remained
convinced that her intentions were positive.
“It was definitely a feeling of affection,”
he told White Shark Video.
