Where’s the Whale? North Oregon Coast Watch Whale Float by Rockaway Beach; Whale Beached North of Nehalem Jetty May 26th

Greg and Cheryl Gosser live near Nedonna Beach (north of Rockaway) and said they looked out their window to see something floating out past the surf on Sunday afternoon, May 26th. With decades of experience on the seas between them, they quickly realized what they were looking at.

“It was about three o’clock – I saw this huge thing out on the ocean, I thought it moved,” Cheryl Gosser said.

“I looked at it and immediately thought it was a whale,” Greg Gosser said. “It was definitely bloated that’s why it was floating so high on the water.”

Joe Pecore, who also lives near the beach, said he has spent years as a commercial fisherman and says his educated guess is that it’s a humpback. Typically, he said, he sees gray whales in these waters.

“At that point, we’re trying to get a better view out on my deck and at that point, it was pretty much straight out from us and you could even see the fins sticking out of the side,” Pecore said.

Greg Gosser said he spent more than 40 years as a merchant mariner and has seen a lot of whales – and a lot of dead ones – but never off Manhattan Beach. He immediately called NOAA, the National Marine Fisheries, the Coast Guard, the local sheriff’s office, and Seaside Aquarium, he said. But he was told no one could tow it back out to sea on a holiday weekend.

The trio spent Sunday afternoon and evening watching waves break over the whale’s body, waiting.

Greg Gosser said they are all hoping the whale doesn’t wash up on their beach.

Pecore agreed. “They smell and they’re hard to get rid of,” Pecore said.

However, Greg Gosser wasn’t optimistic.

By Sunday evening, May 26th, other beachgoers recorded video of the whale beaching on the northern end of Manzanita Beach near Nehalem Bay State Park. We are uploading the video and will share as soon as possible.

Photos bt Greg Gosser