We hop out, and she runs to the kayaks where the instructor is waiting for us. I made sure to get a private tour. She is so damn excited, she leaves me in the damn dust. I don’t blame her. Whales are so much cooler than me.
“First thing is first, I’m Matty. I’ll be your instructor on this beautiful day!” He claps and zips up his wetsuit. “Please put on your life vests. I see you got a tandem kayak which holds two. That’s romantic.” The guy looks at me and winks. “Our goal today is to see some whales, but sometimes they don’t come up for air, and we don’t see them at all, but don’t get discouraged. We always see something out there. Even sharks.”
Her excitement vanishes.
Poof.
Gone.
“Sharks? The kind that … swim?”
Matty tosses his head back and chuckles, holding his pink painted nails to his chest. “Girl, you’re funny. The kind that swim. Ha! You’re so cute.”
He isn’t taking her serious.
Gabriella hates sharks.
“Well, come on. Let’s go. Whales aren’t going to watch themselves.” Matty grabs a blue kayak and drags it into the water. He climbs inside and positions himself on the seat. He holds the paddle across his lap as he waits fo
r us.
We climb inside our kayak with ease, but Gabriella keeps giving me nervous glances about the sharks. I doubt we will see sharks.
“Okay, so since you two are in a tandem kayak, make sure each of you have your paddle rowing in the different direction as the other. So, Gabriella, you’re left and, Sebastian, you’re right. Stay that way, or Lord, you’re going to be going in circles.”
“Sebastian.” Gabriella tugs at my sleeve from behind me and whispers, “Sharks.”
“We are going to be fine, baby.”
“Oh, yeah. The sharks are nice here. They will leave us alone,” Matty says with flamboyance and exuberance.
“Hear that, Sebastian? The sharks are nice here.”
I chuckle from her mumbled whisper and we follow Matty. The water is smooth and the sun is warm. The slight ripples the paddles cause as they glide through the water is relaxing. I'm not sure how long we paddle for. I don’t really care. It is relaxing, and having Gabriella behind me makes this experience that much sweeter.
We are living life just how she wants.
We kayak around the edge of a cliff where the water is a bit rougher, but then we get to a cove where the water is shallow and there is a small beach that is undisturbed. There are a few deer near the tree line, and Gabriella gasps.
“Sebastian, look!” She points to the big buck surrounded by his does. “Wow. So beautiful.”
“Well, that was unexpected. I brought you guys here because it’s the perfect spot to catch a whale as they migrate. Oh, look! It’s a sea turtle!” He points a few yards out at the shell swimming closer to us.
“How beautiful is this?” Gabriella reaches her hand out and rubs her fingers along the wet shell. The fins are huge, bigger than I thought a turtle could ever be. I reach out too and our fingers collide, sending a jolt through my entire body.
“Say sea turtle!” Matty yells and snaps a picture.
“Sea turtle!” Gabriella shouts through the biggest smile I have ever seen as I turn around to look at her.
“Aw, you too are so damn cute. I can’t stop taking photos,” Matty says.
I can’t stop looking at her. She is beautiful with the sun behind her, glowing around her like a halo. Her brown hair shines, reminding me of melted chocolate. I lean in for a kiss when a burst of air and water drench us.
“There she is! That’s Lucy. She’s our local. She always comes when we are here. We can count on her to show herself. She is a humpback whale. Older than me, older than my dad too. We don’t know how long she’s been here, but she’s used to humans,” Matty informs.
Lucy jumped out of the water, and I steal another glance at Gabriella, with tears streaming down her face and a big smile on her lips.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” she says, watching Lucy put on a show for us. “How do you know it’s her?”