Whales!!!!!!!!!!!!
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sat 1 Sep 2012 03:12
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Niue is one of only two places in the world where
one can swim with humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae, so it was one
of the things we wanted to do - especially having seen them from a boat off Cape
Cod, New England.
These animals get to about 20m long and 50 tonnes
(our large boat is 16m and 35 tonnes!). They have been fully protected since
1965 (when they were down to less than 5% of their original numbers, but the
population has bounced back. Humpbacks feed on squid in the Antarctic in the
summer, but come to warmer waters to breed and give birth - they are here at
Niue from July to October, resting in the leeward side of the island.
We went out in a RIB (a rigid inflatable) with the
local dive school, and what a trip we had. We found a courting couple, with a
young male displaying to a young female. He was breeching (shooting up out of
the water like a missile, then falling back with the biggest splash he could
manage, and flipper waving, and swimming on his back. She was sticking her tail
flukes out of the water, waving her tail and slapping the surface. This went on
for over an hour; he must have breeched at least a hundred times.
We were in swimming with them; they take no notice
of human swimmers at all, other than to avoid falling on you or surfacing
underneath you. You get to 30m off (regulated by law) but you really do not want
a 50 tonne whale falling on you. As he goes back in there is a huge crash, and
his outer layers of skin slough off taking the barnacles and other skin
parasites off too. So you swim through a mass of bubbles and skin soup. Whale
researchers have to get in quickly and close to get skin samples for DNA
analysis - a risky business!
We had a quite amazing time. The water is crystal
clear and we could see both whales swimming around us and displaying. It was
magical - a once in a lifetime experience. Unfortunately the excitement was so
intense that photography was very difficult (and whales swim much faster than we
do!) so few good photos were obtained. But look at thisone, of the male diving
down after breeching, with a trail of bubbles off his pectoral fin, looking like
a jet fighter;
 And we have some great video. If I can work out
UTube somewhere where we have broadband I'll load it up.
And that's it for Niue. We are leaving tonight for
Tonga, 250nm away, where we should arrive on Monday morning local
time.
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