Punta Sal

The news had been circulating through Punta Sal since morning: a nearly white humpback whale had appeared off the coast. The fishermen called him Marfil. Captain Aro called him his breakthrough.

“Today my video will go around the world,” said Aro, pointing to his boat. Cameras hung from the railings, a drone was perched on the roof, and boxes of cables and underwater microphones were stored under the seat.

Perusino looked at the small clear space between the devices. “Do you also have a boat somewhere?”

Franz found a box of life vests. “And provisions? Just in case.”

A little later, the boat sped across the warm water. Punta Sal grew smaller behind them. Aro constantly checked his screens while Perusina watched the calm surface of the sea.

Then she heard a long, deep hum. It wasn't coming from the sea. A speaker blinked under a tarp.

“You're playing whale calls!” cried Perusina.

Aro turned the wheel. “Just a little lure. Marfil should look at the camera.”

“A whale is not an actor,” she said. But Aro sped up.

Before them, the sea exploded. A bright hump broke through the waves, water shot meters high into the air. Next to Marfil, a much smaller hump appeared.

“A calf!” cried Perusino.

Aro launched the drone. Its rotors whirred over the whales. Marfil slapped the water with his tail fin. The wave hit the boat sideways.

A camera flew across the deck. Franz tumbled headfirst into the box of life vests. Perusino got a rope around his waist and suddenly hung like a flag from the sun canopy.

“I ordered the view, but not like this!” he cried.

Aro yanked the wheel. At the same time, the drone line trailed over the stern. There was a bang, the engine roared and then fell silent. The line had wrapped around the propeller.

Now the boat drifted. Before them, dark reefs rose from the crystal-clear water.

“We have to free the engine!” cried Aro.

Franz emerged from the vests. “Good news: I'm very safe. Bad news: I can't move.”

Perusina looked at Marfil. The whale didn't swim away. He circled tightly, dived, and reappeared next to the same red buoy.

“He's not chasing us,” said Perusina. “He's showing us something.”

Between two waves, the calf appeared. An abandoned fishing net was around its tail fin. Every movement tightened the mesh.

Aro reached for his camera.

Perusina slapped his hand away. “Now is not the time for filming. Now is the time for helping.”

Perusino cut loose the sun canopy. Together, they stretched the fabric between two poles. The wind inflated it and turned the bow away from the reef. Franz squeezed out of the vests and crawled to the stern.

“Rope coming!” gasped Franz. With both paws, he pulled the buoy line closer. Perusino fastened it to the boat so it wouldn't drift away again. Perusina radioed the coast guard and described their exact position.

Help arrived a few minutes later. They stopped far enough away, glided with a small inflatable boat to the calf, and cut the net piece by piece. Marfil stayed close by. His breath sounded like a mighty sigh.

When the last mesh tore, the calf shot free. It dived under Marfil and reappeared on his other side.

Aro raised the camera one more time. A wave sloshed over the railing, carried it away, and made it disappear into the blue water.

No one said anything. Then a sound came from the depths, so deep that the bottom of the boat vibrated. Marfil and his calf swam out into the open sea.

Perusino looked at Aro. “Was it worth it?”

The captain looked at the empty spot where his camera had been. Then he turned off the lure.

Far out, Marfil jumped out of the water. White belly, dark fins, a whole whale in the sunlight. No camera was rolling.

Franz stood on his hind paws. “The whale won.”

Perusina shook her head. “No. He never played along.”