A Whale of a Tale

During this afternoon's staff meeting, the secretary suddenly interrupted with, "Beluga are moving through. You can see them from the window." (Only in Alaska.) We crowded around the library windows to see. All we could see at that point was a blob-shaped set of waves that were different from the waves around it. A whole pod of whales was moving through (underwater). We watched for a minute or two before the principal called us back to order and resumed the (ever-lasting, boring) staff meeting. At the end of the day, one of the aides came into my room and said that they were bringing a beluga in and that was the reason for the large gathering of people on the beach. I decided to go down and check it out.

When I got to the beach, two beluga had been hauled in. One of the usual white color - over 15 feet of blubber and whale meat. The other was smaller and gray. The person I was standing next to, Lillie, said that it was a young whale - not full grown. That's when I noticed another white whale a little further down the beach. This is when I got my first taste of raw beluga. They were cutting off pieces of the tail (because it's so thin) and eating it, raw. One of the kids, Nicole, pulled part of a piece apart and gave it to me to try. Looking at it, I could see the different layers of skin and fat. I was hesitant, but gave it a try because I figured I could handle such a small piece (maybe a half-inch square). If it tasted bad, well, at least it was small. It was okay - I would eat it if I was starving. The skin started to dissolve and came off pretty quickly, but I sucked and gnawed on the fat part for the better part of the next hour.

Lillie pointed out another boat coming and said that it had 3. Whales, that is. This boat was towing 3 whales behind it. One of the hunters from another boat waded out, tied rope to the tails, and brought the other end of the rope back to the shore. All the men and just about all of the kids lined up like it was a big game of tug-of-rope. Working together, they pulled all 3 whales into shore.

At this point, there were 6 whales on the beach. I started talking to one of the ladies standing on the beach - Joanie. She said that they used to eat beluga the same way when she was a kid - straight from the tail. Apparently, there were killer whales that were chasing the beluga and that was why they came through as a large pod and close to shore. The killer whales were out deeper and the beluga were sticking close to shore to avoid them - bad for them, good for us. Joanie said she caught it on video - when the whales were coming through - and it was quite a sight.

I wandered down the beach to the other whale - the hunter who had brought it in were starting to carve it up. Interesting fact - one of the hunters works at the school and, when the beluga were spotted, had asked the principal if he could leave early. It paid off for him. They would slice off huge slabs of meat and fat (3 ft long slabs), rinse them in the water, and then put them in a tarp-lined trailer hooked up to their four-wheeler. It was 2 brothers and their dad and it was obvious who knew the most. Dad was very carefully directing the operation, but his sons were doing the actual cutting. He was imparting his knowledge in the best possible way - directing, but letting them do it by themselves. It was really interesting to watch.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - my camera is still AWOL. MIA. Supposedly somewhere in the mail between Portland and Elim?