Humphrey the Lost Whale. Wendy Tokuda

      

      Our story begins on a sunny day, far out at sea. A pod of

       humpback whales was traveling south together for the winter.

      Humpback whales are magnificent creatures that sing

       beautiful songs to each other underwater. In the whole world

      there are very few of them, so each one is quite special.

      And they are intelligent. Every winter they travel south,

       every summer they head north, and they always know the

       way.

      But even whales can make mistakes. One whale named

       Humphrey made a big one. He turned away from his friends

       and wandered under the Golden Gate Bridge into San

       Francisco Bay.

      Everyone was surprised to see Humphrey in the Bay!

       People don’t get to see humpback whales very often because

       they usually stay in very deep waters. It was a special treat to

       see one so close to the city of San Francisco.

      Humphrey was a spectacular sight — as long as a city bus

       and as big as seven elephants put together. He would come

       up to breathe, appearing as if by magic, and people would

       stop whatever they were doing to watch him.

      Then Humphrey did something that no whale

       had ever done. Instead of swimming back out to

       sea, he went the wrong way up the Sacramento

       River.

      The big river became smaller and smaller as

       Humphrey traveled upstream.

      He was looking for the ocean, but it was clear

       Humphrey was lost.