Whale Watching and snorkelling off Scotts Head

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The Sperm whale they call "Fingers" takes a last breath and dives

After a pretty disappointing whale watch in California last year, it was with high expectation we handed over our money to go out yesterday. We weren’t disappointed. We were lucky to have a PhD student in Oceanography and an expert in Sperm whales as our guide and we learned all there is to know about these fascinating animals. As they stay in family groups and in the Caribbean Sea west of Dominica they tend to hang around for weeks at a time, it was a case of “if you see one, there will be more". It took 2 hours before the skipper called “there she blows” and we moved closer to see the whale. The Oos, Ahs and Wows from all aboard were uncontrolled. Then she rolled forwards and her tail came out - Fantastic!

The sperm whale…
Has the largest brain of any animal
Dives to 3,000 m and stays down for over 2 hours
Is born weighing one ton
Has a powerful and sophisticated sonar system
And looks great when it dives - see the video...

Today we did a bit of swimming with the fishes off Scotts Head. We walked to the end of the beach and swam along the head to Scotts Head Drop-off where the seabed just disappears. The water was beautifully clear and there were fish everywhere. Loved it.

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Photos

Thar she blows
here you can see the water spout, her back and dorsal fin