Blue Shark

Blue Shark is Leon Anawak’s working boat for whale-watching excursions off Vancouver Island. It connects the local tourist trade to the long-distance migrations of whales, but its role changes as those animals become harder to find and then dangerously unpredictable. First a vehicle for observation and explanation, it becomes a platform from which Anawak witnesses abnormal encounters, and finally a casualty in an attack that leaves passengers in the water and forces him to call for help.

Identity and Use

Blue Shark operates from Tofino as part of the coastal whale-watching business. On one excursion it is a large Zodiac, powered by twin outboard motors and loaded to capacity with twelve passengers wearing waterproof clothing and carrying binoculars and cameras. Anawak takes them out in search of gray whales and humpback whales on their northward migration toward summer feeding grounds in the Arctic. The planned route belongs to a much larger cycle: the whales travel through the Bering Sea to the Chukchi Sea, then return south toward Mexico when the days shorten.

The boat’s work depends on the seasonal passage of those animals. Twice a year, large numbers of whales normally pass through British Columbia and the waters around Vancouver Island, supporting busy tours in Tofino and other coastal towns. But that year the expected sightings fail to materialize. The passengers wait more than an hour and a half without seeing a whale, while Anawak grows increasingly concerned about where the animals have gone. His attention is divided between his responsibility as skipper and his own concern for the whales; he is more troubled by their absence than by the tourists’ fading interest.

A Platform for Observation

Anawak also uses Blue Shark for searching on his own. When he sets out without a tour group, he loads a waterproof bag with a laptop, camera, binoculars, tape-recorder, hydrophone, and headphones, along with a cereal bar and two cans of iced tea. He motors out through the lagoon, then heads into open water and waits with the engine off. The boat is no longer simply taking paying passengers to a sighting: it is a working base for looking and listening.

During this solo outing, several whales surface near Blue Shark. As Anawak watches for their flukes, a much larger shadow rises vertically beside the boat. A whale’s head comes close to the rubber hull, and a second head appears on the opposite side. The animals hold their gaze on him, an encounter he recognizes as unlike anything he has seen before. He raises his digital camera, speaking to the whales as he tries to photograph them; both heads then disappear beneath the surface. The boat lets Anawak observe the animals at close range, but the encounter does not give him an explanation for their behavior.

Blue Shark continues to serve as an observation and communication point when whale-watching becomes entangled with protest. Anawak scans for whales while keeping radio contact with Susan Stringer aboard the boat. He asks whether the animals are becoming physical; Stringer reports that the people around them are taking photographs and shouting. When Anawak reaches the area, Blue Shark and Lady Wexham are among a group of humpback whales. Two small fishing boats circle Blue Shark, and the people aboard shout insults and throw fish scraps toward its passengers. Anawak approaches and calls for Greywolf to stop drumming so they can talk. The boat has become a focus of conflict between the tour group, the protesters, and the whales around them.

Capsizing and Rescue

The confrontation turns into a disaster when a huge whale falls onto one of the small motorboats and strikes the bow of Blue Shark. The Zodiac overturns, throwing its orange-suited passengers into the water. Anawak sees that some people are motionless and that Lady Wexham is listing amid the whales. He picks his way through the people in the water, trying not to cause further injuries, and uses the radio to report casualties and possible fatalities. He cannot give a full account before the urgent situation around him takes over.

Stringer swims toward him, and Anawak pulls her aboard. Orcas then approach the scene. As they move around the remaining boats, Anawak opens the throttle and steers between them, trying to get past animals blocking his way. Lady Wexham shudders and heels; a giant tail hits Blue Shark, sending the Zodiac into the air and flipping it over. Anawak is thrown into the cold water. When he surfaces, he can see only some of the others and there is no sign of Blue Shark or most of its passengers. The boat’s role as a means of transport and protection has ended; Anawak is left in the sea, separated from the vessel and trying to survive the continuing attack.

Narrative Significance

Blue Shark marks the limits of human control on the water. Its engine can carry passengers toward a sighting or let Anawak maneuver through danger, while its radio can summon help; none of those functions can make the whales predictable or keep the boat safe when they attack. The vessel’s changing use gives the crisis a concrete scale: a routine commercial excursion becomes a place of close observation, then a scene of protest and collision, and finally a capsizing with people missing in the water.

The boat also anchors Anawak’s changing relation to the sea. At first, the work of whale-watching means interpreting the animals for tourists and waiting for them to appear. When sightings become unusual, Blue Shark becomes a platform for Anawak’s own search; during the later attack, it can no longer separate observer from event. Its overturning makes that reversal physical: the person who had been watching from the boat is submerged in the danger he was trying to understand.