“Hi, Penelope. I heard what happened and wanted to ask if you had any more questions.”
She didn’t, but she couldn’t knock back another statement. She got her notepad out of her bag as she said, “Tell me what happened.”
Gretchen outlined the same story Sam and Rob had told her.
“Thanks. Tell Sam I’ll be in touch after I’ve spoken with the others.”
She walked into the office and went straight to see Declan. He glanced up from his desk, shifting some paperwork into a filing cabinet next to him. “How did it go?”
“I suspended his licence for a week.” She clenched her hand, waiting for his response.
He nodded as if satisfied. “That should appease the mob on social media. What happened?”
She explained the situation, making it clear Sam had moved towards the whales when he shouldn’t have.
Declan sighed. “Sounds like he’s a bit of a cowboy. Good to put a stop to it right at the start.”
Penelope relaxed. “Thank you.” Her guilt lessened. She hadn’t been too harsh. “I’m going to track down the person who posted the photo and speak with the other tour boat operator so I can write my report.”
“Good idea. Maybe ask some passengers on Rob’s boat too.” Declan smiled at her. “You’re doing a good job.”
“Thank you, sir.” She went into her office, pulled up the file of licensees on her computer and found Jimmy’s number.
“Hey, Penelope,” Jimmy answered. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to discuss the incident that happened on Rob’s boat today. I understand one of your passengers took the photo that’s on social media.”
“What photo? I haven’t been online today.”
“There’s a photo of Rob’s boat right on top of a whale and its calf making the rounds on social media,” she explained. “It’s drawing quite a lot of attention.”
Jimmy sighed. “Yeah, it was something to see. We all thought the calf was gonna be caught.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Sure. We were on the other side of the pod to Rob,” he said. “I reckon we both noticed the orca at about the same time. Our priority was getting the customers out of the water.”
Penelope shuddered. If the people had been in the way, it could have been an even more dramatic story.
“After everyone was safely on board, we watched from a distance, but the whales turned towards Rob’s boat. Could have gone either way.”
“Did Rob’s boat approach the whales?”
A pause. “Hard to know for sure from a distance.”
How diplomatic.
“Are you able to give me the contact details for the person who posted the picture?”
“I’m not meant to share the info, but I’ll call them now to ask if it’s all right. I’ll call you back in a minute.” Jimmy hung up.
Penelope paced her office and flicked through the comments on the post. Some people thought it was amazing and others were outraged the boat was so close to a small baby. Comments like ‘this shouldn’t be allowed’, and ‘taking advantage of nature’ were common. People wanted to know what was being done about it and Declan had posted a response that they were investigating the matter.
When Jimmy called her back, she wrote down the passenger’s number and made the call.
After introducing herself, she asked, “Can you tell me what happened today?”
“It was terrible,” the woman announced. “That poor baby whale being chased by the orca and then when it escaped it was preyed upon by the tour boat.”
