Whales appear to help say goodbye
Dear editor: My wife Susan and I both worked on several types of deep-sea vessels for about 40 years combined sea-service; a considerable chunk of our lives that irrevocably made us creatures of the ocean.
We agreed that when we died, our preference was for a simple cremation with our ashes scattered at sea.
Her ashes came in a biodegradable urn decorated with her favourite roses, but, partly due to my own poor health, I was reluctant to actually commit the ashes to the deep. Until now, I simply had no idea just how painful grief can be, and was somehow comforted with the ashes on the bed-head next to me, but finally summoned the courage to fulfil Susan’s wishes. The seaburial took place near our home in Parksville; our friends Cathy and Peter were so kind to offer the use of their boat on a delightful September Saturday morning. We ferried Susan’s urn to her favourite fishing hole off French Creek; attached roses to the urn, along with three tail feathers from her beloved macaw Chico, and a peacock feather from the bird she kept in Salmon Arm, when we lived there about 30 years ago.
The urn slowly disappeared beneath the flat calm sea with the heads of the roses pointing upwards; neither of us were religious types, but it all seemed so serene and tranquil.
Between sobs, I told Cathy and Peter how Susan and I met at a mutual shipmate’s place in her native Trinidad almost a halfcentury ago, when both of us had been working on different ships. One of those stories of love at first sight that was not made in Hollywood; this was the real deal, but there was a Hollywood ending to our private funeral service when Peter spied a whale spout to the southeast in the direction of Ballenas Island.
While we waited patiently, two or three humpback whales made their way along the Strait of Georgia passing a few hundred yards away from us with several impressive displays of their tail flukes. What a truly majestic send-off for Susan, as these other creatures of the ocean paid their last respects. Bernie Smith Parksville