"The Grotto"
At the end of our 8 mile hike was a green, cool Grotto.
We were the only ones there and it was magical!
— Guadelupe Mountains National Park.
This is to me the breathtaking architecture of nature... this is my feel good freakish story from yesterday... I’ve been going up to the ocean for a swim most every other day for 3/4 of the year every year for probably the last 40 years. I was out for a quick swim and a coffee up near the local lifesavers club yesterday and was thinking how I’ve not once seen a whale go past when I’ve been swimming at the ocean and how it would be amazing to see something like that and less than 20 seconds later the woman behind me said to her kids omg thats a whale out there... I kid you not... It was just about 600 to 700 metres offshore leaping full body out of the water and crashing back down again to make a giant splash and then it did this every 25 seconds or so for close to half an hour just right out front of where we were sitting... it was wonderous, beautiful, numinous and just freakin amazing. Everyone was completely captivated and everyone’s spirits were lifted. It was a moment completely out of time. My phone was up in the car but it was splashing around close enough to shore to probably show up in a video, this is a photo to give you an idea of how it looked, pics of one of the east coast humpbacks in migration... it was absolutely breathtaking and all so joyful. Just wow!!! So very, very lucky to have been there to share in that moment.