The whale waited until the boat was practically on top of them. Only when the crew reached out their arms did the giant finally pull back, allowing Nan to scramble up the ladder and onto the safety of the deck.
Collapsing on the floor of the boat, Nan watched as the two humpback whales remained at the surface. They stayed by the side of the vessel for several minutes, watching the humans with an intelligence that felt eerily human.
Just before disappearing into the deep, the lead whale surfaced one last time. It blew a massive spray of air from its blowhole—a final salute to the woman whose life it had just saved.
Nan Hauser had spent 28 years studying whales to save them. She never expected that one day, the whales would be the ones to return the favor in a way that would rewrite the history of science.
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