An Unusual Whale Watching Cruise

I loved this letter in the recent Metropolitan Diary from the NY Times (gift link). It begins:

My friend Tom runs a popular whale watch cruise out of Sheepshead Bay. Recently, an avid whale watcher and good friend, Buddy, died. One of Buddy’s wishes was that Tom spread his ashes on the ocean he loved so much.

So, on a beautiful summer evening, Tom canceled his usual nightly cruise and organized a private memorial service. More than 80 of Buddy’s friends and family members came to say a last goodbye.

A serious-looking young woman who sat quietly by herself was among the passengers. None of the other people, including the crew members, knew who she was.

I won’t spoil the ending…you’ll have to click through to read.

I’ve never been to any memorial services at sea, but I did go whale watching in Alaska once. The extremely salty captain of the boat had two prosthetic hands with hooks on them (as Tom Nash demonstrates in this video). After we got underway, he left his first mate in charge and came out on the windy deck, got a cigarette and a matchbook out of his shirt pocket, tore off a match, and, with a single try, lit the cigarette. In, like, whipping 20 mph winds with the boat heaving in the waves. He was standing right in front of me when as he did it and it remains one of the most physically impressive things I have ever seen a person do. The man was so perfectly in his element that it was almost magical.