Stranded: Cuvier's Beaked Whale on Christmas Day, Ireland - Original Photos

I never intended to share these photos. I took them, I guess, because it was unexpected and quite a sight, and it's not every day you see large sea creatures that close with your own eyes.  Cuvier's Beaked Whale - an adult male, over 5 meters in length, stranded on Christmas Day 2014 on Clifden beach, right on the wild west coast of Connemara, Ireland.    

Apparently a post-mortem wasn't possible due to the level of decomposition, but what's strange is that within that month there were 5 strandings of these whales in Ireland, and no obvious explanation.
 

But I don't share them for entertainment... it never seems quite right or respectful to gawp at any deceased creatures, whether whale or person or hedgehog.  That's why I only show them in greyscale, because grayscale can turn something unsightly into something striking, and perhaps even beautiful.  Instead of focusing on the blood and scars in colour, I find the focus in greyscale is on his form... his size and shape.  

So, in sharing these I give thanks for his life, and honour him by acknowledging his existence.  He was an individual, with feelings and a family and a whole life under that water.  I'm grateful for these reminders.  Definitely an experience that will stay with me always. 

That's me, next to him for scale...

The evening turned out so beautifully... a tribute from the universe perhaps...

And then, on our way home from the beach we stopped to pay our respects at the shrine.  We're not Catholic, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

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Many thanks.
 

All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.