Heading ashore
Jolly Roger, Alex, Paulie and I headed to the beach. We exited Roger’s cave through an opening on top of the cave, which was a secret entrance only Roger knew about. As we swam toward the shoreline, I noticed Alex was watching a small family of stingray swimming nearby. He didn’t say anything, but I got the feeling he was missing his family.
Roger really knew his way around this area of the ocean. I guess with age comes wisdom! He pointed out some very tasty seaweed patches. I’ll spend my whole life learning from him!
As we approached the shoreline, Roger told Alex and Paulie where it was safe for them to stay. From their position, they could see the sea turtles approaching the shore to create their nests.
I poked my head out of the water and saw something odd. “Roger,” I called out. “Something’s going on.”
Roger poked his head out of the water and saw the same thing I did: Some big fish was on the beach. It was lying there and people were pouring water on it. Others were digging a trench in the sand in front of the big fish.
“Oh my,” said Roger. “It’s a whale, and it’s stuck on the beach.”
“What can we do?” I asked.
“Well, I think we should wait and see if they can get it back into the water. If so, we will see if we can help it.”
We watched as the people did their best to get the whale back into the water. Slowly, the whale was pushed along the trench, now being flooded with water to make it easier for it to move. Unlike sea turtles, whales don’t have flippers to help them down the beach.
As soon as the whale entered the water, Roger and I moved in.
“Are you all right?” asked Roger.
“Oh,” said the whale. “My head hurts, and my stomach hurts.” It looked around. “I’m not really sure which way I’m going.”
“Can you swim?” I asked.
“Yes,” the whale replied.
“Come with us. We will help you.” said Roger.
Tags: loggerhead, Moon, story, turtle
Posted by Dan under From Eartha | Permalink