A Whale of a Time (New Bedford, Big Sur and the Benedictine Monastery)
More than 3 months have passed since I first started to track the spirit of Whale and much goodness and an ocean's full of serendipity have drifted my way. Around the time of our Mendocino trip, I had picked up a copy of dime-store copy of Moby Dick and dove into the text with a seaman's wanderlust. This avidity lasted just a few weeks (it has since been gathering dust under my bed since early May). Not to worry, methinks, it's only been in print for 162 years so it isn't going anywhere. Whale himself, however, is a highly mobile spirit, one who crosses all cultures and oceans to help guide our dreams and shape our narratives. New Bedford was a happening place in the mid-18th century. In early April, I went back to Boston to visit family and felt pulled to visit New Bedford, Massachusetts. The only thing I knew about "Nu'Beffa" is that it was a depressed old fishing port with a high Portuguese-speaking population. And of course, it was w