WhaleQuest!

by Matt Musson

  Pam walked off without saying another word, leaving Shad and Freddie in dither.

  They were quite unhappy about the lack of bars. And, they complained incessantly until I gave up and went to bed.

  I was unsympathetic. To me, a lack of cell phone coverage was just one of the hardships of living in an island paradise.

  Besides, bright and early the next morning, the bars returned.

  ************

  Chapter 8 – Cape Lookout Day 1

  On our first morning at the Cape, we met Miss Mynah, the camp's part-time cook. She was a sturdy little woman who supplemented her retirement income making breakfast, lunch and dinner for the different week long inhabitants of the ecology camp. Although she lived on Harkers Island, she caught the ferry across to the Cape Lookout each morning and traveled home every night.

  She was a quiet lady, a bit on the shy side. Fit and trim from a life of physical labor, she had well kept short curls and I got the impression that she earned each one of her many gray hairs.

  Ms. Mynah was feminine in a motherly fashion. But, she radiated an inner strength and toughness that must have developed over a lifetime of living in the difficult and often poor low country villages. She was also quick with a smile and very pleasant and she definitely enjoyed the fact we appreciated her food.

  Most importantly, she could really cook!

  That first breakfast we ate was a simple but hardy meal of bacon, eggs and biscuits. The eggs were fresh and fluffy. The bacon was crisp without being carbonized. And her biscuits were warm and light and flaky.

  Shad lavished praise upon our camp chef, “Miss Mynah, these biscuits are so good I could slap my grandma.”

  Ms. Mynah did not say anything in reply. But, she did smile and look pleased.

  After breakfast we went into a small meeting room for a presentation by Pam Rockhart about Cape Lookout and its flora and fauna.

  The presentation lasted about an hour. Ms. Rockhart appeared knowledgeable. And, she passed out a number of specimens for us to hold and touch.

  During the speech, we decided to find out if she knew as much as she thought she knew. So, Bogdon and Toby peppered her with some tough questions. To our surprise she got the answers right. We decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, and accept her scientific grounding.

  After the presentation, we moved outside for some hands on experiments. Ms. Rockhart brought out an electronic salinometer, which is an instrument that measures the salt content in water. It passes a small electric current through the sample and measures how well the water conducts electricity. The higher the salt content, the better the water conducts.

  We walked over to the ocean side of the island to begin our sampling process. Donnie was already there and waxing his surf board by the beach.

  “Hey guys, look at this!” said Donnie.

  He walked over and held out a delicate helmet shaped object. It was the size of a large lemon with a thin fragile shell ringed in grooves. It had a light brown checkered pattern over a white background. It was perfect – not a chip or a scratch anywhere.

  “It's a Scotch Bonnet,” said Toby. “It's the state sea shell of North Carolina.”

  “That's an excellent specimen,” Pam Rockhart observed.”It's very rare to find an intact Scotch Bonnet.”

  “I know,” replied Donnie. “I've been looking for one all my life. I've found lots of pieces, but never a complete shell. I'll treasure this one forever.”

  Donnie reached over and took Pam's hand. She was clearly surprised by his forwardness, but she allowed him to glide her fingers over the shell.

  “Feel this, “he said.”Feel the delicate smoothness. Feel the sensual curves. Great artists could not sculpt something as beautiful as this little shell.”

  Between them, they held the Scotch Bonnet and Pam whispered, “It's lovely.”

  Suddenly Pam shook her head and drew away from Donnie. She turned her complete focus back to us.

  “Okay campers,” she barked. “I need you guys to dig down into the sand until you hit the water table. We're going to test these samples with our salinometer.”

  Donnie smiled to himself, stuck the scotch bonnet in the pocket of his swimsuit and walked back to his board.

  For the next half hour, Thor manned the shovel while Charlie and I scooped sand out with buckets. Together, we began making holes in the beach. As we reached a depth of three or four feet, water started to pool up in the bottom.

  Bogdon and Toby each grabbed one of Freddie's legs and lowered him into holes with a plastic cup in his hands. With this unusual technique, we gathered the water. Then Shad tested the liquid by dipping the salinometer's microphone-like sampler into it. The sampler was linked to a handheld device that gave a reading on a small display screen.

  The salinometer showed that the water we were extracting less than 100 yards from the ocean was quite drinkable.

  Ms. Rockhart explained to us how rainwater collected under the island and floated in a pool above an underlying saltwater table. Because the fresh water was lighter it floated on top of a heavier saltwater layer. This was the freshwater Lens that Shad described upon our arrival.

  We had fun during the exercise, so Shad and Bogdon refrained from interrupting and correcting Ms. Rockhart.

  In the end we taste tested the water. And, this evolved into a giant water fight. Cups of fresh water escalated into buckets full of ocean water. And, Pam Rockhart even threw some herself, after she had the equipment safely put away.

  While we were digging, Donnie surfed the small breakers coming into the island. The surf was not great, but Donnie had enough skill to handle the short lifespan of these little waves.

  As we dried off and cleaned up from our salinometer experiments a group of day tourists came walking down the beach in front of us. As they got closer, we saw the group was an extended family: Grandma and Grandpa, a couple of Moms and Dads and some miscellaneous teenagers. Trailing behind the group was a young girl probably five or six years of age sporting a bright pink plaster cast that covered her entire left shoulder down to the wrist.

  I was only watching out of the corner of my eye, but I noticed Donnie catch a wave into shore. He landed beside the youngster. Then he picked up his board and talked to the girl as they both walked down the beach.

  Suddenly, I heard the little girl squeal. I looked over just in time to see her bend over and pick up something with her good arm. She examined it closely. She held it up to the sun. And, then she took off after the rest of her family.

  I could hear her yelling.”Grandma! Grandpa! Come look at this neat seashell I found!”

  As the little girl ran off holding up the Scotch Bonnet, Donnie turned and walked back into the surf.

  I don't know if the other guys realized what happened. But, I caught Pam Rockhart watching closely. I could tell by the look in her eyes, she understood exactly what had just taken place.

  ************

  We returned to the Camp for a quick lunch and then spent a free afternoon swimming and splashing in the blue waters of the Atlantic. Donnie even gave us some surfing lessons, but only Thor and Freddie managed to stand up on the moving board.

  About dusk, we barefooted back down the sandy path to the center. Ms. Mynah had a wonderful spaghetti dinner waiting. We wolfed down the food, and afterwards we helped clean up the kitchen.

  It was full dark when we climbed up to a balcony perch on the third floor tower. From on high, we watched ocean waves roll in under a million points of light. You could hardly see the sky between all those stars. And, every fifteen seconds a flash from the Lighthouse illuminated the night.

  Although it was still early, eyelids were already drooping. I guess the mixture of sun and saltwater with a heavy Italian dinner was stimulating the sleep centers in our brains. One by one we climbed down from the tower and trailed off to bed.

  ************

  Chapter 9 – Cape Looko
ut Day 2

  One of the perks of vacation is that you can sleep as late as you want. You don't have to get up for school or for chores, or even to deal with a little sister's unwelcome intrusions. You can just lie in bed and seize the day.

  That is exactly what I was doing on our second morning at the Cape. I was dozing in and out, savoring the cool sea breezes humming through the window screens and eavesdropping on some Bobwhite quail, conversing in the distance.

  And, I was thinking deep thoughts.

  Was today the day I would catch the big one? What we were having for breakfast? Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

  But, as I reflected on the mysteries of the Universe, I became aware of a commotion outside. When I heard the words ‘Sea Monster', I decided it was time to launch. I threw on shorts, a t-shirt and sandals, and flip flopped into the sunshine.

  Most of the guys were sitting down at a picnic table eating fruit loops from plastic bowls. A red faced Freddie Dunkleberger was hopping up and down and recounting a story that was a little hard to swallow.

  “There I was,” he said.”I was beach combing the Sound side of the Island, just north of the Coast Guard dock, when I suddenly came face to face a terrifying creature! I'm telling you guys, it was a genuine Sea Monster!”

  Freddie paused for effect.

  “You say you were on the Sound?” asked Shad.

  “That's right. Just north of the dock.”

  “Well then technically you discovered a Sound Monster,” Shad corrected.

  Freddie was not amused and he reached out an frogged Shad on the arm.

  “Are you sure it wasn't just a porpoise?” Bogdon inquired. “They feed in the back bays this time of the morning.”

  “No,” said Freddie.”It was a Monster. It had a head with a neck. Porpoises don’t have necks.”

  “For that matter,” Freddie explained, “It was not even a fish. It was more like some weird half fish and half man creature. It reminded me of the Gillman from that old movie ‘The Creature of the Black Lagoon.' ”

  “Come on Freddie,” said Bogdon.”The Gillman? Don't you think that sounds a bit ridiculous?”

  “What?” asked Freddie in disbelief. ”Aren't you Mr. Crypto Zoologist? Aren't you going to go spend life tracking down monsters and legends? If any of the guys should believe me it should be you, Bogdon.”

  “Well,” replied Bogdon, “I think there's a difference between creatures of folklore and legend and creatures from old black and white Sci-Fi movies.”

  At that point Charlie stepped in to avoid any hard feelings.

  ”Okay Freddie. What exactly did this thing look like? Tell us what you saw in detail.”

  Freddie gave us the details.

  “I only glimpsed it for a minute. I thought I heard a fish jump, so I looked up from the sand and across the water. That's when I saw it. This enormous head was sticking up straight out of the bay. It had patchy black skin with two large sunken eyes that stared at me like I was breakfast. I yelped. And, the creature started moving towards me. He was huge and his enormous fins broke the surface of the water and left a wake. I turned and ran. That's probably the only reason why I made it back alive.”

  “You think it was going to eat you?” asked Thor.

  “I don't know,” said Freddie.”But, I wasn't about to stand around and find out.”

  “So,” Bogdon inquired.”Did it have a blow hole?”

  “Nope,” replied Freddie.

  “How about fangs or teeth?”

  “Nope. No fangs. No teeth,” said Freddie.

  “What about tentacles?” asked Bog?

  “Well, come to think of it,” said Freddie.”The creature may have had tentacles hanging down from its mouth. But they were small and worm-like.”

  “Could it have been a seal?” asked Charlie. ”I've read they get blown down here by storms on occasion.”

  “Look,” explained Freddie a little put out. ”I know a seal when I see one. This was no seal,” he declared. “In fact, it was not like any creature I've ever seen. It was weird and unearthly. You might even say it was alien.”

  “An Aquatic Alien?” I asked.

  “Yeah. That's it,” Freddie agreed.

  “Congratulations,” said Bogdon. ”You've just boarded the express train to Nuttier than a Fruitcake-ville”

  We all had a good laugh, except for Freddie of course. It was clear to the little guy that he wasn't going to win over this batch of skeptics.

  He did not say anything more about the Alien Aquatic Gillman Sound Monster. He just frogged Bogdon on the arm, kicked Shad in the shin (not very effectively given he was wearing flip flops) and stormed off in a little Freddie huff.

  We let him go and figured the whole episode would blow over.

  ************

  We spent the second afternoon at Cape Lookout, experimenting with a piece of equipment called a hydrophone. It is like a microphone that you lower in the water to eavesdrop on the fish. Sound actually travels easily through water. In fact, the speed of sound is almost four times faster in water than in air.

  Pam Rockhart marched us down to the Coast Guard pier at high tide when there was plenty of water under the dock. She gave us her ‘The Living Ocean' speech. Afterwards we took turns dipping the hydrophone into the Sound and trying to identify what came out of the speaker sitting on the dock.

  Boy, fish are really noisy!

  They grunt and squawk and burp. And, at one point we heard a pod of dolphins in the distance and those guys can squeak like nobody's business.

  Of course, Bogdon and Shad got into an argument about dolphin communication and tried to translate the speech patterns that we picked up.

  Shad claimed the dolphins were warning away another pod from their fishing grounds. Bogdon claimed they were calling other members of their own pod together for a fish round up.

  “You're both wrong!” claimed Freddie. ”I learned dolphin from a cousin of mine who's a mermaid.”

  “Oh yeah?” said Shad skeptically. “Then what did that last guy just say?”

  “That's easy,” Freddie responded. “He asked: Why did the dolphin cross the road?”

  Of course, the Rangers were too familiar with Freddie's awful jokes to respond. So, the pour little guy danced at the end of the pier and did everything but stand on his head and hold his breath to get someone to inquire.

  Finally, in a moment of weakness, Pam let Freddie off the hook. She spoke before we could stop her.

  “I give up. Why did the dolphin cross the road?”

  Freddie smiled with satisfaction and pounced on the unsuspecting victim.

  “Why, to get to the other tide! Of course.”

  Everyone groaned.

  “Why didn't someone warm me?” Pam questioned. ”That's the worst joke I've heard all year.”

  “Oh my gosh,” groaned Bogdon. ” Now, you've really done it. You have issued a challenge. He'll spend the entire week trying to top that joke with something worse.”

  “No I won't,” Freddie objected.

  “No?” asked Toby.

  “Absolutely not. In fact, I think I am going to quit telling jokes and become a singer.”

  We eyed him skeptically.

  “But, for my first song, I don't know whether to sing: ‘Salmon Chanted Evening' or ‘I Cod Have Danced All Night'.”

  Shad could not resist jumping in.

  “How about something from ‘Fiddler Crab on the Roof' or ‘The Flounder Music'?

  Together they effectively ended our lesson and we all ran for cover. As I left with my hands over my ears I could still make out Shad and Freddie harmonizing on Madonna's classic hit: 'Like a Sturgeon'.

  ************

  Chapter 10 – Cape Lookout Day 3

  On our third morning at Cape Lookout, Shad MacReynolds woke up sick as a dog!

  Whatever bug laid the big guy low, was about as nasty as I have ever seen. Shad never did anyth
ing half hearted. And, when he got sick, boy he got really sick!

  The poor guy suffered from a high fever, chills, vomiting and diarrhea. He laid in bed moaning and alternated between shivering and sweating. Occasionally he made a dash for the bathroom. In his lucid moments, he claimed to have come down with some lethal combination of Swine Flu and Malaria.

  None of us had any idea what to do for the poor guy. After every trip to the john, Bogdon would follow behind, hold his nose and dowse the room down with a germ lethal dose of Lysol spray. Of course, that did not help Shad any. But, we hoped it would protect the rest of us for from following a similar path.

  And, Pam Rockhart and Donnie were not any better at providing comfort or relief to our friend. They were older and bigger but equally useless when it came to nursing sick patients.

  Luckily, our good hearted cook, Ms. Mynah took charge of mothering the poor sick Ranger. When she arrived that morning and found Shad ill, she dispatched Donnie on the next ferry back to Harkers Island to pick up sick bed supplies and medicines. While Donnie was making the passage, Miss Mynah comforted Shad with cold compresses and soothing words.

  Once Donnie returned, Miss M. began attacking the virus with a regimented schedule of Advil, Tylenol and ginger ale. When enough medicine got into Shad's system to break his fever, he managed to drift off to sleep. But, like an angel of mercy, Miss Mynah never left his side.

  We chipped in on the kitchen detail, allowing Miss Mynah to devote herself to full time nursing. That meant having cold cereal and donuts for breakfast and sandwiches and Fritos for lunch. But, we felt it was the least we could do.

  With Shad sleeping and Miss M. doctoring him, the rest of us continued our ecology studies. We felt guilty about leaving our sick friend. But, we also realized that he was in good hands. Besides, the best way to avoid coming down with the same illness was to stay outside in the clean salt air and germ killing UV Rays.

  We spent the afternoon surveying the shore bird population along the Atlantic side of the island. Toby who has always been a bird watching enthusiast identified over twenty different types of avian residents as we hiked a mile up the beach and a mile back down. He was pretty excited about the exercise.