Wally The Whale Returns

9781483519111

Chapter 1:

It was the time of year Wally would begin his Pacific Ocean migration to Alaska. Like every year on his journey north, Wally would swim through the beautiful islands in the State of Washington. One of these islands, rich with green trees and wild berries, is Camano Island. Camano is pronounced Ka’may-no. This island was named Spanish explorer Jacinto Caamano over a hundred and fifty years ago. The beaches and hills on Camano have changed only a little since the early explorers first rested here. Now, this same island is a favorite place for Wally because it is where some of his special friends live. These friends are the neighborhood boys and girls who live on Camano Island.

Early on a Monday morning, while the boys and girls on Camano were leaving for school, Wally was traveling through the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast. He was heading north, swimming in a deep part of the ocean where the current moves slow and steady. While Wally was swimming he noticed a dark shadow moving along the ocean floor in front of him. Knowing where the shadow was coming from, he looked up towards the surface. Wally saw a long narrow object moving in the waves high above. The object was rolling from side to side and bouncing up and down. Wally decided to swim to the surface to have a closer look. As Wally swam towards the long narrow object, the object seemed to grow bigger and bigger and began moving violently from side to side. Wally recognized what was going on right away. Wally had seen this many times before out in the ocean. A huge cargo ship caught in a storm, rocking from side to side from the strong wind and high rolling waves.

Wally poked his head out of the water, right in to the windy and rainy storm. The wind was blowing so strong, Wally had to squint his eyes from the pounding rain. He couldn’t remember being in a storm this bad before. Wally eyes kept blinking and squinting as he looked for the ship. He knew where he had surfaced he would be very close to it. Where is the ship? Wally thought to himself. Finally, Wally squinted his eyes just right and spotted the ship’s green starboard light and dim yellow lights from the cabin. They were barely glowing through the storm, but he could see them. Wally quickly leaped forward into the water and began swimming towards the stranded cargo ship.

Surprised, Wally saw something he had never seen before. Wally suddenly stopped swimming to have a better look. He could hardly believe his eye when he saw a giant wave glistening in the moon light. This was the highest wave he had ever seen. It was higher than a telephone pole and rolling straight for the stranded ship. With all his strength, Wally began swimming into the storm again to try and reach the cargo ship before the wave. Just before the huge wave was about to turn the ship all the way over, Wally jumped out of the water and landed along side. Wally pushed against the side of the ship with all his strength, trying to keep it from turning over and sinking. He kept pushing and pushing as the wave tried to turn the boat upside down. It looked as though Wally and the giant wave were having a pushing contest with the boat in the middle.

Suddenly, the very top of the huge wave came crashing down on the deck of the ship. Wally and everyone on board heard the loud roar from the crash of the wave as it hit. As loud as it was it didn’t sink the ship. It was like the big bully wave gave a final punch before giving up. What remained of the wave settled down into the ocean and disappeared. The only thing left of the wave was a layer of white foam floating around the rescued ship.

Wally had been so careful helping the ship, no one aboard knew what really happened. And if they did, they for sure would have never believed it was a whale that saved them from sinking. The crew only knew that their ship had leaned all the way over to one side,