Minke Whales!!!!

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July 6, 2006

6:30 wake up call. “Wake up call, Minke whales.”

What an unorthodox way to wake someone up. Entice them into believing that there are minke whales, one of the rarest, least known whales in the world, spotted right off of our boat.
I walked directly passed the morning snack, the meal before breakfast, and outside to the back of the boat. Immediately, I spotted a whale fin less than 10 feet of the boat. I guess they really are out there. And the great thing about these whales is that they are very curious, there’s no need to chase them down, they come to you, and they stick around for a while, building confidence as they see that we are not whalehunters.

The divemaster let me know that whenever I was ready I could jump in. since we were only allowed out on snorkel, I didn’t need a dive buddy. I ran to my room, grabbed the camera, and ran back out on deck to don my wet suit. I was the first one in. The sun was barely coming up over the ocean, the waves were decent size, nothing to be scared of, and there were whales swimming around our boat. What the hell was I doing out there alone? Of course, this thought didn’t cross my mind until I was out there by myself, looking into the depths of the ocean, and not noticing anything!

So, I came back up and took my wet suit off. I’m sure anyone reading this can guess what happened as I was warming up back in the boat… yes, a truly rare sighting occurred. A calf and her mother were checking us out, swimming not more than a few feet from those in the water.
Though I probably looked a bit dumb, I put everything back on and jumped into the ocean; my first chance to see the whales up close. It was great! Though brief. Since the mothers are very protective of their calf, they do not normally get anywhere near the boat, let alone as close as they were already coming.
The group decided to go for a dive. And so we did.
On the way back, we had been greeted by another set of minke whales. This time, it was perfect timing for me, as I had just taken off my dive gear and still had my wetsuit on, I jumped back into the water. Immediately, it was easy to notice the whales. Each pass they made seemed like they were heading straight for me. I could even see their eyes checking me out as they would approach me and then swim away and across my path. A few times, they even managed to swim directly below my feet. Really, they swam majestically and seemed gentle and curious.

What a great morning. I had been in the water for about 2 hours by this point, and so my body was begging me for a nice hot shower and a warm cup of coffee.

I decided to relax for most of the rest of the day, deciding to plan my dives strategically so that I wouldn’t be too tired or my head wouldn’t be aching for naught. I wanted it to be worth it, picky picky me. It was also smart, the next and final dive of the day was one to be remembered. The Cod Hole.

The basic idea was that one of the divemasters as going to bring down some typical bait food to feed the potato cod that called this place home. Of course, where there’s food, there’s more than just on type of fish.

When we arrived at the feeding spot, a big, beautiful potato cod was ready for the feed, along with about 20 snappers and yellowtail that the divemaster had known well from the past two times he’d been there- and had the welts and gashes on his arm to prove it.

It really was a feeding frenzy. As the divemaster brought the feed right in front of my eyes, I could feel the flapping of the cod’s tail on my body, then the current that rushed past me of the remaining fish that missed the bite.

After the feed, a few of us decided to head left to check out what else was in the area. Immediately, we saw a white tip shark, but I think we scared him off and he just sort of passed over the coral and away from us. On the other side, about 50 feet later, we saw 5 grey reef sharks circling each other. Pretty cool, and since I’ve never seen a group of sharks together before, I felt pretty lucky to have that chance to see that. The rest of the dive was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.
When I got back up to the boat, there was a buzz about the group who went to the right of the cod feed, rather than to the left. A few of them had to be taxied back to the boat when they nearly pooped their pants full after seeing a 3.5 meter tiger shark!
The divemaster, who was helping grab our fins as we got back in the boat decided to jump in and, ahem, confirm what they had seen down there. And so it was, a tiger shark. Whew! The marine biologist and the crew were all jealous they hadn’t had a chance to see it. In the meantime, I was pretty happy just to say I was in the water within 100 meters of one. That’s close enough for me! A tiger shark. In all, this was the best dive day I’ve seen in a long time. Hopefully, and I’m sure, there’s plenty more to come.

As night settled in, we were not allowed to jump back in to the cod hole for a night dive, and who would’ve been crazy enough to go? Not me, that’s straight. I downloaded my pics on the computer and even was able to donate some of the minke whale shots to the james cook university, with the understanding, of course, that I would be credited in the back of whatever publication was made.
Got a great night sleep and woke up again, ready to dive the day away!

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