Whale Song – a visual meditation

May this 17-minute communion with whales and their soothing song help you connect to your own voice, your own truth, your own song. Symbol of emotional rebirth, community, and communication, these giant mammals have wandered the waters of the Earth long before humans arrived.

I invite you to dive deeper into the mystical realms as you journey with these Wisdom Keepers, Memory Keepers through this visual meditation offering.

What an adventure! Just days after our return from the Cape Shore, I called my friend Leslie to ask if she wanted to go whale watching on St. Vincent’s Beach, a 2-hour drive from St. John’s on the Irish Loop of Newfoundland & Labrador.

Witnessing humpback whales feeding on the spawning fish in the deep waters just off the shore of this impressive 5km beach had been on my bucket list for years. 

My Facebook Friends had warned me that there may not be as many whales out there since the Caplin had rolled in 4 days before, but we were willing to take the chance.

How exciting to approach the community of St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River from high above the long narrow strand of beach with a pond on one side and the ocean on the other.

As we very slowly trudged our way up to the long barrier that runs the distance between the Flats and the Gut, we were glad we’d seen the sign not to drive up any closer. It was hard enough to walk up the path of tiny cobblestones, so not surprising that a van got stuck on the soft shoulder.

I was curious why a little crowd had gathered next to the gateway, sheltered behind the tall fence. When we got there, however, we understood that they hadn’t dressed for the cold strong winds coming off the ocean.

The walk was slow. The length of the beach was like nothing I’d seen on this island before. A strand of dead Caplin with their big eyes still shining stretched a few meters from the waves for as far as the eyes could see. 

I’ve never seen the Caplin roll in, but it’s a celebrated event every year in this province. They come to spawn on the beaches, a spectacle that draws birds, whales, and throngs of people who come for the sight or for the buckets full of these small silver fish for food or fertilizer. My heart reached out to them, some of their tiny mouths open in the struggle for their last breath.

After walking a while, we settled down in a spot and just watched the horizon. The whales weren’t coming in just meters from shore as they would’ve had the Caplin still been as plentiful, but they were out there.  

I set up my iPhone XI pro on my mini tripod and my SLR camera on my bigger and much sturdier one.  I didn’t think I’d be able to use any video footage with my flimsy phone tripod wildly dancing in the strong winds.

I was later thrilled to find out about its internal video stabilization feature! The footage wasn’t perfectly sharp, but I wanted to give you a taste of what it was like to watch those gentle giants breach repeatedly on the horizon. Wow!

For a short time, the lighting changed from dull grey to a late afternoon sparkle bouncing off the waves. It was magical.

We ended our short visit to the region at my friend Elizabeth’s house, just off the beach. How joyous to see her in person (from a safe 6-foot distance) after being regularly connected online. Her home was filled with my paintings, and my Spirit Calling Card “meditate” rested on the coffee table.

I am so grateful to my art patrons for helping me continue to create, be it paintings or free online offerings like this one. If you’re moved to contribute to my spiritual art practice financially, I invite you to explore my online shop. Thank you!

Our adventure didn’t end there, though. As we drove through one of the towns, we saw what first appeared like a large blond dog coming towards us on a little bridge. We stopped the car to give it space. As it turned off the road and into the ravine, my heart skipped a beat. “That’s not a dog!”  Its gait and powerful hind legs gave it away, even if I hadn’t gotten a clear look at the face. “That’s a wild cat!”.

I had no idea we had wild cats in Newfoundland! As a regular hiker, I was aware there were plenty of moose and the occasional black bears in some regions of the island (and the rare visit from a polar bear off the ice floats), but never considered the presence of wild cats.

We drove ahead a bit and asked the couple stopped by the side of the road what it was. A Newfoundland Lynx, they said. They’d seen it go into the yard of a house and had stopped to tell the owner, who chased it away from her dog in the back yard.

Now, I wasn’t ready to get out of the car to go looking for it as they had (that was a big wild cat after all!), but my friend and I both felt honoured by the crossing. Looking it up, lynx are symbols of insight, vision, foresight, and intuition.

Whales & a lynx in the same day. Wow!

Once I got home and started playing with the video footage and the few stills I’d succeeded to take despite the distance from the shore (and the dozens of just-too-late-splash-shots), I had an idea.

Why limit this video to a location? What I wanted to honour was our Wisdom Keepers, these giants whose presence has thrilled me many a times while living on this island. 

I’ve sung to them from the decks of a storm-chased ferry from St. Pierre & Miquelon (no photos from that time) and had the pleasure of connecting to them & photographing them from a few whale-watching trips in Witless Bay.

When I was an English-as-a-Second-Language instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, I had accompanied a few of my classes on both Gatherall’s and O’Brien’s  boat tours. I’d also taken some of my summer visitors to see the whales and bird colonies. My best shots since I moved here in 2011, however, were from my Eco Tours Zodiac Adventures with the St. John’s camera club. 

It’s in times like these that I’m glad I’m an organized person. I was easily able to locate and peruse several folders of whale watching stills to pick the ones I included in this Whale Song visual meditation video for you.

I was also thrilled to purchase a new song from my source of royalty free meditation music, “Into the Deep” by Christopher Lloyd Clarke.

I hope you enjoyed this 17-minute communing with whales experience with me.