I was on a trip to Jacksonville; either on a day trip or overnight vacation; and decided to walk, yes walk, to Jacksonville Beach. It’s a trek I wouldn’t even consider in real life; it would take about six hours; but it was a much shorter distance in the dream; still long but more like an hour or two.

The reason was to determine whether or not to (video) shoot a model (girl) there before it gets too cold. It was still late October and winter was approaching fast. It was also evening; the same time of day I’d schedule the modeling session for in order to take advantage of the setting sunlight.

I knew it was a yes as soon as I arrived. I’d have to schedule it soon, within the next couple of weeks or so, but the weather was nice and warm. The beach was also packed, which didn’t bother me nearly as much as it would’ve in real life. I imagined nobody really paying that much attention to us.

There were so many people; sunbathing, swimming, running, playing volleyball, doing all the things people do at the beach; we’d just blend in. There also seemed to be some kind of festival going on, which would explain the crowd, though it was just another Jacksonville Beach weekend in the dream.

That’s despite what seemed like two suns; one going down in the distance as it normally does, another shining down just overhead like a big lightbulb. The clouds were also weird and there were Laputa-like structures in the sky. It was a dream world, but it all seemed normal enough at the time.

What didn’t; the one truly remarkable aspect of my visit; was when I saw a huge whale leap up from the water. It looked like an orca, but it had to be at least a thousand feet long as it soared in slow motion. I wowed up at it, along with the little boy standing beside me, as I pondered the sighting.

Though neither of us thought to take a picture, I knew we were witnessing something extraordinary. Whales don’t get that big; never mind the physics-defying leap; but I justified it as cetological ignorance on my part when I saw another slimmer one doing the same thing a short while later.

That’s when I decided to leave. Not because I was scared of the whales; I was a little; but because I’d only come to decide whether or not to shoot a model and already made up my mind. I thought about the (short) long walk home, wondering if there was some kind of shortcut I could take, when I awoke.

2024 October 30