Living in a wildlife documentary- 1 MEMORABLE DAY
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Sat 7 Aug 2010 10:54
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The Caribbean gave us some great experiences with
life under the sea but the Pacific takes this to another level.
Giant Manta Rays, Sea Lions, Hammerhead Sharks and
Penguins. Sting rays, Silky, Lemon, Nurse, Reef and Grey sharks,
Turtles and Barracuda.
Fish in all forms, colours and patterns and in Niue
Sea Snakes, Dolphins and best of all Whales!
Trish and I saw young Humpback Whales tail slapping
as we arrived in Palmerston and again as we left Beveridge reef and these Whales
come into the Cook islands, Niue and Tonga to mate and to breed each year.
In Niue the Whales come into the bays to have their
young and the adolescents to try to find a mate or at least to see how its
done!
We had dived in the north west on Niue and seen the
amazing uderwater architectuire created by the islands unique coral cap.
Gulleys and canyons, caves and caverns full of sea
snakes, fish and huge crayfish.
On one dive we had the good fortune to swim
alongside and above a group of dolphins as they effortlessly moved along the
reefs outer edge, adding another amazing experience to the long list that we
have amassed with these incredible creatures.
But without doubt the best ever has to be when we
went to the south west of Niue to dive and saw whales in the bay. We were able
to get in front of their track and I went into the water with my snorkle and
waited. As I lay on the surface looking around an adolescent of about 20 tonnes
emerged from the deep just behind me and rose slowly, passing no more than 30ft
under me!!!WOW. Like the dolphins their movement is seemingly effortless and the
whale just cruised away from me with hardly any movement at all.
As we went south towards our dive spot we saw
another large group of dolphins and once again were able to swim alongside them.
The dive took us to a spot called snake gulley where 100's of sea snakes sleep
on the bottom or rise to the surface to breath from time to time. As we went
over the side of the rib and slowly descended to about 20 metres, we could hear
a number of whales singing their courtship songs from about 1 km away and also
the young calf and adults communicating with each other. You are not supposed to
hold your breath when diving but we wanted to hear the song of the whales for as
long as possible. I've run out of superlatives to describe this trip but that
day was truly memorable.
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