LIHUE — It was urgent. The estimated 4,000-pound pilot whale was beached and dying Friday morning at Kalapaki Bay.
Jamie Thomton, biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was in charge of the makeshift rescue effort.
He called for eight people, four on each side of the stranded whale.
“Everyone else, stay up here,” he said.
Surrounded by his volunteer crew, Thomton quickly gave instructions.
“We’re going to try and point him toward the water, stay away from that tail. Keep him upright, grab those big pectoral flippers as a handle, push him out on a surge,” he said. “And be careful. Tiger sharks are around here.”
For the next minute, they pushed and, inch by inch, foot by foot, they gained ground. Waves crashed into the men and knocked them back. Then, the whale floated free and, at least for now, headed in the right direction, toward deeper water.
The crowd urged it on.
“Go, go, go,” they shouted.
When several pilot whales began beaching themselves around 7 a.m., people ran to help — even if they didn’t know it at first. At times, there were two groups in the water, each pushing a whale to try and save it.
Makeith Jakes of Georgia was sleeping Friday morning at their timeshare overlooking the bay when his wife woke him.
“I see dolphins out there,” she said.
Makeith got up.
“When we got here, we would see they weren’t just having fun,” he said. “They were actually stranded and then we realized they were pilot whales.”
There were larger and smaller ones that beached themselves. Jakes, a Navy veteran, quickly joined the effort to save them.
He was among a group of locals and visitors that pushed two out.
“We turned around and there were more to push back in, so we ran down the shore pushing whales back in the water,” he said.
Pushing them back was difficult.
“Every time we pushed them back in they would go right and come back in and they would get beached again,”he said. “We ended up saving the same whales three or four times.
“Every time the waves would come in, we’d have to get a push because they were too heavy to move on the sand,” he continued. “So we used the waves.”
Jakes was glad to do what he could, but upset, too.
“Very sad to see the whales like this,” he said. “Something was obviously forcing them out of the water. They were getting beat up on the rocks. I’m not sure what’s causing them to run away from their environment.”
Aubrey Willingham of Salem, Oregon, was at Kalapaki to play in the water one final time before flying out Friday night. He and his wife, Amber, initially thought they were watching dolphins.
When the whales started stranding themselves, both jumped in to help.
“The Coast Guard told us not to touch them and they kept pushing us back but we didn’t listen to them,” Aubrey Willingham said.
He spent about an hour and a half trying to save the whales. One, he said, was pushed out three times, and each time returned.
He praised the group effort as people teamed up and ventured into the water despite warnings of tiger sharks.
“I’m really sad we didn’t get to save them all,” he said.
Amber Willingham ran to the side of one whale while calling for help. People responded and that was inspiring, she said.
But she said it was “incredibly frustrating” at times.
“You want to do so much and then they come and tell you can’t touch them, and you’re watching them flounder. It was horrible,” she said.
“I’m heartbroken about those two,” she said, looking at the two dead whales at the end of the beach.
Holly Watkins of Texas was watching the bay from her lanai when she saw what was happening and came to do what she could.
She tried to comfort one whale, splashing water on its blow hole. The Department of Land and Natural Resources confirmed later that five whales had died and that necropsies were being conducted to determine cause of death.
Watkins cried as she looked at the struggling whales, but praised the passion of those trying to save them.
“There’s a lot of people who tried to help,” she said.
Joe Feichko of Utah, staying near Kalapaki, was told by a relative what was happening and ran to help. He said he was in the water about 30 minutes, trying to push a calf out to deep water. It worked.
“Then we starting seeing a bunch of them,” he said.
At one point, he was told tiger sharks had been spotted and he should return to shore, so he did.
“I was just trying to lend an extra hand because it looked like they were overwhelmed with how many were ashore.”
Francisco Garcia, a firefighter, had just gotten off shift when he heard about the beached whales and responded.
He was in the water, following Thomton’s instruction to stay away from the whale’s tail, as one hit from it could break a man’s leg.
“Everybody got together and tried to do what they could to help,” Garcia said. “Hopefully they can keep them out of the sand.”
At times, he said, it felt hopeless when the whales continued to beach themselves, but he and others didn’t give up.
“There was a purpose for it. We got it done,” he said. “Hopefully, it stays out.”