Whales, Whales, Whales

Saturday was the day I went out on a actual whale watching charter with Andrew, Po'uli, Claire (Po'uli's wife, who is also a qualified whale watching guide) and another guest Andy. It felt quite lucky to have only two guests on the boat. The boat is very spacious with plenty of room to move around.  

The day started out great with Po'uli spotting our first whale about 1/2 hour out. It was actually a heat run. That's where there is one female being followed by a group of males who want to mate with her. There were about five or six in the group and they were moving pretty fast. Andrew got the boat in front of them and we were told to get ready to get in the water. Originally I wasn't going to swim with the whales as I get quite nervous in the water and I'm not a strong swimmer, but somehow I got talked into it. 

Well, like my previous attempts to swim in ocean water this didn't end well either. This time however, I realised when I was about three metres from the boat I wasn't confident enough to swim any further so I turned back to the boat. It wasn't all bad though because as I was hanging onto the ladder Andrew told me to put my head back under the water and I'm so glad he did because I saw the whale swim right past me probably only about 15-20 metres away. Pretty amazing! 

From there the day only got better. We followed the heat run for a little while longer then found another three whales swimming together. They weren't on the move as much as the others. Claire and Andy got into to swim again but I decided that I preferred to stay on the boat. 

At one point we were with two or three whales and over a bit further into the bay there were more being playful and breaching around another boat. One in the group of whales we were watched breached and rose right up out of the water and looking absolutely incredible. It was then I realised how big the really are. It was such a spectacular sight and unfortunately I was just in the wrong position and not quite ready to take the photo. I may have missed the photo of the day, but it was the one thing I wanted to see...and I saw it!

It was surprising how many whales were out there. Not sure if we had a lucky day but if that's the case, I'm glad we did. 






Andrew found another really lovely spot to stop for lunch. I never cease to be amazed by the colour of the water. It honestly looks like someone has spilled a big bottle of blue food colouring into it. Lunch was delicious again. Karen does a great job. 
After lunch we went for a tour along the western coast of the main island. There is some pretty spectacular scenery along the way. 

One little island looked like some kind of cartoon duck with the head of hair and then from the other direction it looked like a skull with a wig. Weird I know, but look at the photo. It was obviously a haven for birds as they were flying all around it. We travelled along this coast line for about 3/4 and hour and then tuned back. On the the way back Po'uli was keen to put some fishing lines into the water. I think he was hoping for something they could have for in their Umu (an earth oven) for Sunday feast. Unfortunately we got nothing on the way back and then when we were all relaxed and thought that was it for the day Andrew shouts there's a whale in front of us. The fishing lines got wound in quickly and the guys were ready for another swim. They were getting pretty good it by then. Up until that point they probably had at least five or six swims, maybe more. 

You can see how close they are to the whale

This whale was a bit more docile and casually swam off. He was going away from the swimmers then must have decided that he needed to take another look. He turned around and headed straight for Andy and Claire and at one stage looked like he was going straight for them. At the last second he gently veered away from them, raised his tail and slapped the water close enough to Andy to give him a fair wash.  When Andy got back in the boat I think his heart was still thumping. He captured some great footage.

With that little adventure over we headed to Swallow's Cave to snorkel into and have a look. On our way back we saw some more whales and was able to get a few more good photos. At Swallows Cave I decided I would give the snorkeling another go. Claire was extremely patient with me and kept me calm. The cave was amazing. It was really deep and had this massive shoal of fish swimming in circles below us and then when you looked up it was almost cathedral like. It's a pity I didn't have a waterproof camera, although that would have been too much for me to think about and I probably would have drowned. The cave went quite deep into the island and then was opening that let a shaft of light down into the cave. I'm sure if you were there at the right time of the day, it would be spectacular.

That was the end of our day and we headed back home home. It was an awesome day and I can't believe how many whales we saw. I loved seeing it all for the boat but every time Andy got back in the boat all he could say at first was "That was so cool". What an absolutely fantastic day...I'm sure we could finished at lunchtime and been happy with that but Andrew, Po'uli and Claire just kept finding more. AMAZING!

When we got back to the house Karen had prepared a delicious meal of the fish she caught on Thursday. I've never had Spanish Mackerel before and doubt that I would ever have such a nice one again. Good job Karen, oh and Andrew for cooking the fish to perfection.

Note: I would like to thank Andy Routley for sharing his underwater footage and allowing me to post it in my blog...thanks Andy