Whale Watching

Last weekend a few friends and I took a trip to Oregon to celebrate Lisa’s birthday. We rented a beach house, cooked together, walked on the beach, read, hot tubbed, and drank hot chocolate. It rained most of the weekend, and it was all very lovely and cosy.

On Saturday, however, the weather was relatively fine, and we had the bright idea of going whale watching. We chartered a boat, and headed out to sea.




Don’t we look cheerful? I wish there were “after” pictures.

The captain reminded us that if we were sick, to make sure the wind wasn’t in our faces, and that we’d be more likely to get sick up top than down on deck. I never get seasick, so neither warning really applied to me.

After about an hour, I came downstairs to see a couple of my shipmates looking a bit queasy. The sea was pretty rough. I was feeling a little uneasy myself, but then I had a cold. I never get seasick, so that couldn’t be it. The sea was pretty rough, though.

A few minutes later, I saw Lisa reach for a plastic bin--her back was to me, but there’s only one reason you stick your head over a plastic bin, heave your shoulders, and then reach for tissues. About a minute after that, I leaned over the side of the boat, wind away from my face, held my hair back, and broke my record for never being seasick.

Just to seal the deal, I threw up a few more times after that. Rather stupidly, none of use were wearing life jackets, and you know how weak you feel after getting sick. I was clinging on for dear life with one hand on the rail, leaning far out as the boat threw itself up and down and back and forth, the other still holding back my hair (upon reflection, it would probably have been a more sensible priority to have had two hands saving me from drowning). Catherine very kindly came over to make sure I didn’t go overboard.

We were all ill except Ann, who eventually told the captain to turn around and head home. We finally made it back to port, and there was some messing around with ropes, while Catherine murmured, “get me off this damn boat.” I was about ready to jump over the edge and swim for it. Lisa said, “Well, that was a completely miserable experience.” “Happy Birthday,” I said.

We wobbled back to the car, and Lisa and I begged the others not to drive anywhere until we felt a little more steady. We were pretty drenched by then, and cold, and the dry ones piled clothes and hats on me. I get cold pretty easily, so was shaking rather a lot, and being on the pale side to begin with, I’m told I look rather dramatically white when I get sick, so I gather I looked a bit pathetic. I remember trying to reassure them that I was ok and I didn’t have hypothermia, but as my lips were numb and I was under the strong impression that if I opened my eyes I’d throw up again, I think I was a little unconvincing. Eventually we drove home with no sudden turns, and with the heater going full blast, and I was soon in the bliss of the hot tub.

It was about 24 hours before we could mention water without Lisa experiencing waves of nausea, and before we all had our land legs again. But as Catherine said, it’s a birthday we’ll all remember, and makes for a good story.

Oh, we saw some whales, too. I so didn’t care at the time, but upon reflection, it was actually pretty cool.




The group.



Watching a lightning storm over the sea.



Sunny morning, our last day.



All of us.