Unbelievable Encounters with the Humpbacks!

There is no other way to describe our day, but spectacular! I think it only took 30 minutes to latch on to a male a few hundred yards south of the boat. We spotted him while he was tail slapping and by the time we reached him in the choppy seas, he put on a show. I don’t know if it was for us or to attract other whales as they aren’t sure why they do that, but we were entertained. The only disappointment was the auto focus on my camera got knocked to manual focus while it was in my dry box, and while I knew something wasn’t right, I was shooting on a setting I wasn’t that familiar with and wasn’t sure what was wrong…not to mention our whale was so active there wasn’t time to be messing with my camera, only time to hold down the shutter! Continue reading “Unbelievable Encounters with the Humpbacks!” →

Humpback Whales Putting on a Show in the Silver Bank!

Morning Outing with the Humpbacks

The sun rose around seven every morning, at it was lovely every time! Ready to tackle the whales, we ventured out on the tenders after breakfast. Overall the whales were either difficult to spot or very feisty today. There were not too many that wanted to settle down for us to join them in the water. We tooled around for a few hours following a few groups of whales when finally we set upon a male trying to impress a female. When we approached them closely, we riled them up! Continue reading “Humpback Whales Putting on a Show in the Silver Bank!” →

Snorkeling with Humbacks at the Silver Bank!

Sailing to the Silver Bank

For the smoothest crossing of the year, it sure was a rocky and sleepless night! The captain started up the engines around midnight and we crossed to the Silver Bank, 125 miles offshore. The Silver Bank is a shallow water area in the Atlantic Ocean covering 1,680 km. The average depth is 65 feet, but some of the coral head come close to the surface, especially during low tide. The Silver Bank, located between the Navidad Bank and the Mouchoir Bank, is owned by the Dominican Republic and got its name from a ship wreck (not the one in the pictures) that lost its silver. We arrived Sunday morning around 8 a.m., and spotted humpback whales immediately, as this is a breeding and calving area for the humpbacks. We saw blows coming from a mama with its baby and an escort. The escort is male who wants to mate with the female, but generally doesn’t get that lucky with the mama who has a calf. They were a curious group and came right up to the boat before we even got into the nursery and mooring area. Continue reading “Snorkeling with Humbacks at the Silver Bank!” →