Wow, that's amazing! I love the way he/she does the same pass behavior each time, upside down, then right at you, then just missing you w/ the pect and the tail!

James

Having focused mostly on sharks in the past years, I have very little experience with whales. This encounter really got me excited to spend more time with these amazing creatures. I am certain the whale was fully aware of my presence, and moreover was seeking a playful encounter with me, a stranged four appendaged creature awkwardly bobbing on the surface. I was probably a welcome break from the couple dozen bottlenose dolphins that were harrassing it!

The whale was curious and gentle. That being said, the shear size of the creature made the encounter hair-rasing. On several of the passes I had to fin hard to avoid being bowled over and hit by the pectoral fin and tail. These appendages are hard and barnacle encrusted. When you consider they can generate enough force to launch this many ton creature clear out of the water, one swipe could snap my bones or knock me out.

Who would of thought that after diving with all kinds of large "predatory sharks" that a whale encounter would be more scary

reminds me of this article from earlier this year...

Whale Tale: Man Survives Giant Animal's Smack
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Science/story?id=2942052&page=1

"The mother flipped and threw the group every which way but loose."

The force was so intense, a videotape recording of the accident shows the actual impact and snapping of Thornton's femur, or thigh bone. You can hear a loud pop when his leg is broken.

"It was like getting hit by a train," Thornton said. "You know, it was so hard, it felt like getting hit by car."

Another diver, Janet Blackwelder, suffered broken ribs and was knocked unconscious

Yeah, I read about that prior to the trip. Kept going through my head when I was with the giant. Probably kept me safe

Well last day was Saturday and true to form the baitball and viz cleared up. Since there were others in the water, we waited for our turn on the action. Meanwhile we saw a black marlin hit the baitball from the surface. Still ettiquette requires we wait for the others to finish so we got just plain ol' bonito tuna hitting the remnants of the baitball. Then I was in the water today and saw a whaleshark, 2 humpback dolphins, 8 humpback whales and to top it off... 2 rhinopia frondosa. Not bad.

Rhinopias ............

Drew , You need to wear a hat when your in the sun.

"I had to fin hard to avoid being bowled over" I think I would have had to take the wetsuit off before climbing back onboard. Wow, incredible interaction.

Ah Mr Mooney... funnier things have happened.... like you falling off a bench

Drew,
Sounds like a great wrap up to the trip. I am looking forward to the video and images...if you stay home long enough to edit them.
safe travels.
Shawn

Here's a shot from this year's run topside:



We had a lot of breaching including double breaches this year ... this is a sampler.

Wow, Wow and double breaching WOW !!!!

Amazing Drew...

Dive safe

DeanB

Nice action sequence Drew. Look fwd to seeing more from the trip!

Nice pics Drew......ya horizon was not straight though on a few

Yeah and you spelt your name wrong on the copyright..

Dive safe

DeanB

A few photos from the ocean safari in South Africa:


Double head lunge/slap (Megaptera Novaeangeliae)


Albino Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus)


Humpback showing it is a Baleen whale afterall


Southern Right Whale (Eubaleana Australis) doing escorting duties by pushing a rival male away

All shot with a very long zoom lens from 300m away.