This week really left us wondering if perhaps there is a stronger word for ‘curious’ when talking about the calves of humpback whales, because the young whales we encountered on this trip really took inter-species curiosity to a new level.
During our first briefing on how to swim with whales safely and ethically, we always instruct guests to stay together as a tight-knit group in the water, so that – if we are super lucky and the calf decides to approach us – the calf can’t swim between and break us into two groups. This is a safety precaution and also because the mothers might get anxious for the calf if we start to split up, even if her ‘little’ one caused the split in the first place. This week proved the value of this important lesson.
Monday was the beginning of our calf-centric week, which began with – you guessed it – a mum and calf, this time with an escort in tow, too. Gene’s boat was the first to come across it: one of the most chilled-out mom’s we have encountered all season, and her most curious calf. But the whole thing actually started when we found a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins, which we can never resist. They were hanging around long enough for Gene’s boat to get in for a swim when Cat’s boat saw that the dolphins were also following not one but two different sets of mum and calves! It is not often we see two moms and calves so close together, much less with a bunch of dolphins! It was so fun to see them all together, especially when they eventually went their separate ways and one pair gave us a really nice swim.
Our routine is to float on the surface and wait patiently for the little one to come up for air. Usually, depending on the age of the calf, these breath cycles take about 3-5 minutes. But not with this one. She wasn’t really sleeping and was more in a mood to play, coming up just about every minute to circle around whoever was in the water at the time. She was really giving us a wonderful interaction and mom was completely at ease about it. Then every 12 minutes or so mom would come up for air, move off just a couple body lengths, and settle right back down again. The escort seemed happy to let these interactions go on indefinitely… until his moment finally came.
Just as mom settled after a typical breath cycle Cat hopped in the water to mark the whales for her group. She glanced down just in time to see the escort moving beneath her very very fast and with big giant swooshes of his whole body. Having never seen this before, but making a guess what was coming, Cat hollered a warning just in time for everyone to see a colossal BREACH!!!! So, with everyone yelling with excitement, that was the end of that swim as the whales switched from resting to surface behaviors and carried on with the show up above.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday all offered at least one of our group’s curious calves as well, with Gene’s group lucky enough to see a double in-water spy hop from mother and calf, and Cat’s group managing to see a SECOND in-water breach, but this time from the calf. On Thursday, Cat’s boat spent about two hours patiently tracking a mum, calf and escort who were zig-zagging all over the reef as the female tried to shake off her persistent escort. It seemed they would never stop for a rest, to the point where Cat’s folks were nearly ready to give up the track. Then, mum and baby came close to the boat for a nice long time, barely moving before drifting off a bit. The swimmers quickly got ready and slipped into the water and drifted off, too, hoping the whales would swim their way. At first, they didn’t! But then, after five minutes waiting in the water, just as the boat was coming over to pick up the swimmers – suddenly mother and child swam right over, giving an amazingly close interaction (photo, right). And then just as suddenly the whales swam off… and DOLPHINS swam over to us! A dolphin swim, twice in one week? It’s been a very long while since that last happened – and that was in the Bahamas! A rare treat indeed
Along the way this week we also swam with some resting whales, swam with a singer on the first day and the last, and each boats got a great show from a couple rowdy groups, too. There are some hard-fighting whales out here as the pool of available females gets smaller.
In one enthralling evolution of behaviors we watched as two resting whales woke long enough to flirt, simultaneously slapping their pec fins (photo, above). This attracted a challenger who raced onto the scene to try to steal the girl. The very annoyed escort responded forcefully, blowing bubbles, motorboating, pushing and shoving and making some very dramatic tympanic vocalizations. What an amazing sound! And in response the female flirted even more, slapping her pec (photo, right), rolling around on the surface and below, egging the challenger on as if requiring the escort to prove how hard he was willing to fight to keep her! (That’s her in the header photo at the top; anyone recognize her?) Another male joined, now a proper rowdy group, then dropped back out ten minutes later. Then soon another did the same! But throughout it all our very energetic hero was undeterred and determined to prevail (photo, below) and, finally, nearly two hours after we first sighted the original duo, that first challenger dropped out, too, leaving the original male/female pair alone, resting together again. It looked like our hero had won her heart after all…
On top of all that that we enjoyed good and improving weather with light winds, plus Tuesday was the new moon. The new moon only happens 2-3 times per season so it is a special event on the Silver Bank. After darkening the M/V Sea Hunter’s lights, with no moon in the sky, the star and planet gazing was – shall we say – universally appealing!
Naturally, we are sorry to have such a week come to a close (but always happy to share it with you), especially since we’ve now only got two more weeks of the season left. Really, so soon? Where does the time go?!
Stay tuned for our next exciting edition, coming up here next week!
Until then, we wish you whale.
Go Humpbacks, awesome snorkeling experience! Great service, super helpful, always very kind and helpful to make your stay special.
Loved seeing and hanging out with the whales. Wonderful trip. Thanks so much for making us feel at home.
Swam with a mom,calf, escort, and challenger – amazing! Gene did a gret job of getting us close for video! Bilean did an amazing job manuvering the boat as part of a 7 whale rowdy group – simply fantastic!! Hung over a singer and felt the music in my chest – very fortunate! Great trip with so many memories – Thank you for the great underwater experiences! Crew is incredibly friendly and met all expectations. Food was delicious and great service. Freddy and Bilean were great excursion drivers and Cat &Gene were very knowledgible putting right into some great experiences. Great trip, fun and very capable staff, really enjoyed our time on Silver Bank!
We like this boot and the crew. We were in the past with the Sea Hunter in Cocos Island and now with this boat in the Silver Banks and the trip was also fantastic. Good, we were lucky with the wether and the sea, but the crew has did everything, the we’re comfortable. Amazing what Luis spell in his kitchen!;-)) We saw everything we wanted! The wales were inredible and we hope that these wonderful animals will be well protected! Thanks Gene, you are a wonderful “wale-crazy”. We wish you a great deal of power and success in your work! Thank you…..and see you next time in Cocos!