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  • Cover

Not Everyday Do We Swim with Whales:
Lynne Cox and her Story of Grayson

Lynne Cox is no ordinary nature writer. She has put herself at edge of life and limb to tell her stories. Her new 2006 book Grayson, by Borzoi Books, Knopf Publishing, NY, isn't the only incredible true story.

As an American long-distance outdoor swimmer, Cox swam in shark-infested waters around Cape Point in South Africa. She swam the Bering Strait of Alaska in 40-degree Fahrenheit (4-degree Celsuis) waters. Miraculously, this historic swim brought the Cold War enemies of the Soviet Union and the United States into the same room when President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhal Gorbachhev uncomfortably stood together to give Cox her award in 1987.

To add to this incredible list, Lynne Cox has twice held the record for the fastest swim across the English Channel and was the first woman to swim the Cook Strait in New Zealand.

In 2004, Lynne Cox went from swimmer to writer as her first book, Swimming to Antarctica, premiered. In it she tells of swimming the freezing waters of the Antarctic for over one mile, a feat that would kill most from hypothermia in less than five minutes. The book is "pitch-perfect," said Outside Magazine, and "riveting," added Sports Illustrated.

Now we have Cox's newest book, Grayson, a quiet searing memory of her morning swim off the coast of California with a migrating baby Grey Beluga whale she quickly names Grayson. This incredible meeting happened when Cox was only seventeen years old.

As The Ocean Project's favorite book of the month, Cox has brought us a true and powerful story.

"As I swam, all I heard were the waves, rising and tumbling onto shore, the smooth rhythm of my hands splashing into the water, the breaths that I drew into my mouth and lungs, and the long gurgling of silvery bubbles rolling slowly into the sea. I slid into my pace, and I felt the water below me shudder.… All at once I felt very small and very alone in the deep dark sea," wrote Cox as she discovered she was actually not alone. An eighteen-foot baby whale was swimming deep beneath her.

Cox describes the sea like a poet as she continues, "The ocean was charged with energy. It felt certain and expectant, like the air just before an enormous thunderstorm. The water was electric."

There is no other morning like this when a champion swimmer meets that part of the sea that is beyond words. Cox realizes quickly she is swimming with a baby Blue. In short order she realizes too that this special whale has lost his mother.

Grayson maps the unforgettable moment as Cox swam together with the ancients of the sea.

"For the first time in my life, I heard a baby whale speak. I heard the voice of the whale," she said.

Sharing what it feels like to swim with such a beast of the waters she continues, "Taking a breath, I dove under the water and watched him coming toward me. He knew precisely how to move his fluke, balance his body, rotate, and stretch his body and breathe. He had great flexibility and a natural feeling for the water. He knew how to use his flippers, how to hold them out to gain more lift or drag and how to steer. He was the greatest and the most beautiful swimmer I had ever seen. And in only four months he knew more about the ocean world than I would ever know in a lifetime."

As Grayson followed Lynne for more than a mile it became clear that Lynne could not leave the water. If she headed in she would certainly lead the baby to death on the shore. She had to stay in the water until she knew what to do and hope this young one's mother would soon reappear.

With beautiful words Lynne gives us a remarkable adventure. Giving us a gift as close as the outreach of an arm, she reaches to touch the whales, the salt air, the wildness of the open gale.

2006 Pushcart Prize nominee, Lys Anzia, is a human rights journalist working with international news for UN agencies and affiliates.