[kj] (OT) Natural disasters

Brendan bq at soundgardener.co.nz
Wed Feb 27 17:06:12 EST 2008


That was indeed an amazing story. My whale rescue story was luckily not so
sad, in fact it's a really nice memory. 23 years ago, I was 11 (yes 23 and
11 come up quite a lot ;), living up north, in Taipa, fair bit further up
than where Bongo lives. 120 pilot whales beached themselves, all the
locals including the school kids swarmed down to the beach and gently
shepherded them back out, kept them wet, etc. Only 3 lost...most
successful whale rescue ever recorded at the time.

Shepherding a whale back out to sea is very similar to pushing a boken
down car, but wetter and more fun (also more risky because the little ones
tend to freak out a bit and further out where it's deeper they zip around
the larger ones who are in distress, their parents etc, you need to make
sure they don't smash into you...)


> This is what I love about this list, folks sharing the weird and wonderful

> experiences that they chance upon ... quite some bizarre and tragic event

> that was, nobody else on this list is ever likely to experience anything

> like that throughout their lifetime ... that earlier post of mine about

> the

> meteor brought back my own memories of standing in the garden viewing the

> perseids meteor shower in August (about 1980 or '81) when around midnight

> one literally bounces off the outer atmosphere, then bounces again & goes

> right across the sky leaving a trail (like an aircraft would) across

> almost

> from horizon to horizon ... it was an amazing sight & I doubt that I'll

> ever

> see something like that again in my lifetime ... thanks for sharing this

> with us johnny ...

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "bongo" <humanhybrid666 at gmail.com>

> To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)"

> <gathering at misera.net>

> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:20 PM

> Subject: Re: [kj] (OT) Natural disasters

>

>

>>i dont think i shared my whale story before, so here goes...!

>>

>> was at the beach surfing one night with my mate keiron...

>> the first whales beached themselves outside the harbour just before

>> dark, it was fucking intense, such big animals in such a

>> confined/localised area at dusk was very surreal... after dark the

>> handful of people gave up and most of us went home, a few stayed on...

>> we had to swim across the harbour entrance to get back to the carpark,

>> and the channel was full of phosphorus - every movement in the water

>> glowed, and so swimming thru it was an experience i shall NEVER

>> forget! (have since wondered if the stranding and the phosphorus were

>> somehow related..)

>>

>> the next morning the scene at the beach was worse - it was

>> heartbreaking...

>> there were about 80 pilot whales either in the shallows, or on the

>> sandbank inside the harbour on the outgoing tide... the water was

>> getting shallower and already there were many dead whales high and dry

>> on the sand. someone was going around with a spray can and marking a

>> big X on the dead ones... there were alot of X's... some were savaged

>> as well, during the night sharks had come in and had attacked some of

>> the distressed and/or smaller whales, which made our swim the night

>> before seem somewhat dangerous!

>> most of the school kids had the day off to help out, and the idea was

>> to get every whale attended to to either keep it wet if it was on the

>> sandbar, or keep them together in the shallows until the tide turned.

>> me and my cuz had a young one which we manhandled around and tried to

>> keep control of in waist deep water. after many hours the tide turned

>> and the co-ordinaters gave the word for everyone to try and walk the

>> survivors up the harbour out to the ocean, a few hundred meters or

>> so.. it was chaotic - any swimming whales were still confused and

>> stressed out, and many swam the wrong way and had to be herded by

>> boats...

>> by afternoon most were dead. only about 20 - 30 made it back out to

>> sea, and only after many more hours of coaxing away from the shore.

>>

>> a day or two later, i went for a walk to have a smoke at the cliffs

>> overlooking the sandbar...

>> it was another moment i'll never forget... they had to remove the

>> carcasses by helicopter to bury them somewhere safe... in my mind, i

>> can still see it, like a cartoon... a perfect halfwhale, cut in the

>> middle (by chainsaw) suspended beneath a helicopter by a rope from the

>> tail... freaky shit!

>>

>> this was about 20 years or so ago, and writing about it now has

>> brought it all back...

>>

>> may not be a natural disaster as such, but it certainly felt like one.

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Brendan <bq at soundgardener.co.nz> wrote:

>>> I can't beat being an earthquake with any of my shit, even my saving

>>> the

>>> beached whales story.

>>>

>>> >

>>> >

>>> > I ve been a Earthquake that measured 6 on the Richter scale and I

>>> ve

>>> > also spent the night out in a sandstorm , I ve also been in the

>>> Monsoon

>>> > and been in some very windy days, although it didn't reach hurricane

>>> > status.

>>> > Can anyone better that ?

>>> > _________________________________________________________________

>>> > Free games, great prizes - get gaming at Gamesbox.

>>> > http://www.searchgamesbox.com_______________________________________________

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>>> >

>>>

>>>

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>>

>>

>>

>> --

>>

>>

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>> postponed indefinitely..."

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