Humpback Whales

For exactly one year now, I have had bouts of extreme jealousy directed towards Paul. All of this jealousy boiled down to the fact that he got to go out with a visiting whale researcher and see several humpback whales within just a few feet of the boat! My envy subsided a bit last October as Emma and I were fortunate to witness a whale spouting and even breaching (jumping partly out of the water) just off shore. It was a marvelous moment and I had tears in my eyes as I have always dreamed of seeing humpback whales. I also got to hear the eerie songs of the whales several times underwater while diving. These moments sustained me for awhile, but over the past year I have pestered and reminded Paul that if at all possible, it was his duty to get me on that research boat this year!

September and October are the peak months when humpback whales visit our island. We have a group of whales that return each year, migrating from Antartica to enjoy our warm waters for mating and giving birth. This September I saw two whales spout way off shore, but this event only brought back my longing to play whale researcher for a day. Now it was October and both the scientists and the whales would soon be leaving the island, but I had not gotten the opportunity to go out on the boat. With only two days left of the scientists' visit, Paul called me and gave me the news that I on the list for Friday's boat trip. I was so excited that I had trouble sleeping the night before.

Friday morning finally arrived and we headed out in the somewhat choppy waters. Before the first hour was even up, the first whales were spotted. The boat sped over to the vicinity of the spout that was seen and suddenly one of the whales surfaced. As humpback whales are endangered, people should never get closer than 100 meters to them, but given that we were aboard a research vessel with all of the proper permits, we were able to witness the whales swimming literally a few feet from the boat.
We followed a group of three whales for awhile. They gave us quite a show and at one point one of the whales even swam underneath the boat. Each of the whales did a number of tail slaps and I couldn't believe how big their tails are! The whales were so close to the boat that we could have reached out and touched them. It was intriguing to be close enough to hear their breathing. After six hours of bobbing on the boat and lots of puking on my part, we saw a total of 8 whales. Despite my green color, I was so happy to get this opportunity. This definitely ranks up there on my list of amazing things I've done!Here is a site from the local newspaper that has photos of and by Dave Matilla, the lead scientist. http://www.samoanews.com/Whales2007/index.htm