Snorkeling with Humpbacks
Traveled from San Francisco to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, with Katie, Doug and Lori Richardson, and Thom Macpherson, Stacy Spell. We met Lisa, Stacey’s cousin for the final leg to the DR.
We stayed overnight in Casa Colonial which was a beautiful boutique hotel on the beach. Katie tried out her broken leg in the ocean swimming about without too much pain. A late checkout and then off to the boat, the Turks and Caicos Explorer II. On the way our driver diverted us to what I am sure was a relatives shop as Doug and I wanted to pick up cigars for the trip. To board the boat, you needed a negative Covid test at the docks. We self administered the test and lo and behold all were negative. We may not have followed the guidelines precisely, like putting the swab in your nose and waiting 15 minutes for the results but, don’t want to be turned away at the door. We boarded the boat with Katie limping along with her crutch. We had already been pulled aside by the tour operator as Katie was making the crew nervous with her leg. They weren’t at all sure she could manage on the boat. The tour operator, Tom Conlin, was particularly concerned that she might hurt herself more and the boat would have to return to port early. She ended up signing a letter absolving all of any liability. Fortunately the ship’s captain, JF, was very nice and easy going. We couldn’t leave port as planned as the seas were rough so we spent the first night on the boat trying to sleep with a nearby outdoor nightclub in full swing. The accommodations were nice with a twin size bed, short closet, 4 drawer dresser, and a small bathroom with shower. We left about 6 in the am for an uneventful 8 hour trip to Silverbank.
In the middle of nowhere coral heads appeared with whale spouts seen about. Two tenders were made ready and we were off on our first boat ride. We practiced getting into the water, forming a line, and getting back in the boat. We apparently weren’t that good but passed. We saw a mother and their calf and slowly approached, but they moved away. Tom didn’t want to continue ‘working them’. He tries to ease in to get the mother comfortable with the boat before people get in the water. Not long after, we traveled in amongst a group of 6 Rowdy Boys. The males jockeyed for dominance some lunging on the backs of other whales trying to see who would be top ‘dog/whale’ earning rights to get close to a female. One of the males had their dorsal fin bloodied by the encounter. Apparently one strategy is for the whale to open their mouth as they reach the surface, collect water, then lunge at the other whale, giving them more weight to strike with. Back to the big boat for a Happy Hour of gin and tonics, wine and beer. A beautiful sunset off the boat with a Green Flash as the sun set. First time to see that for me.
Miguel was our Ecuadorian cook who made excellent meals throughout our trip, making steaks, ribs, roast beef, lasagne, Mahi-Mahi along with many wonderful soups and side dishes. We had talks at night about the whales then generally to bed pretty early, at least for Katie and I. Morning routine was up at 7 for prepared breakfast and coffee and in the boats by 8:30. Our group of 7 plus Marcella a regular visitor to the Silverbank, along with 2 sisters Julie and Sue alternated tenders each day with either Tom or Lorenzo as the driver. 2 crew accompanied us one of which was the scout that was first in the water trying to locate the whales underwater and to position us for viewing and safety. Lorenzo was from the DR and on our first trip with him as driver he was shouting a-lot, both at the guide in the water who was Tom Colin’s son TJ and at some of us! Not a great start. To be fair our second trip with him a couple days later entailed less shouting and much more fun. On our first full day we found some ‘sleepers’ which are typically a male and female resting on the bottom at 20′-30’, ‘sleeping’. They come to the surface for a breath every so often. We hovered over the 2 whales until one, usually the male would slowly rise to the surface. We would gather in a tighter group and the whale would slowly circle us. Deeming us ok, the whale descended to the other whale and they would then both come to the surface for a few breaths. Sometimes they would move farther away before descending again so we would get back in the boat. Sometimes they would descend 20-30 yards away so we would just swim over to them to watch another cycle.
On this week long trip there seemed to be paucity of whales compared to the 3 other trips Doug has been on at the Silverbank. We sometimes would share whales with the other tender, taking turns getting into the water.
For most of our days, we would spend a majority of our morning and afternoon trips on the tender scouting for whales. We would always end up with some wonderful experience, whether that was a mother and calf traveling with an escort male, a mother and calf with an escort and then a challenger. We had long visits with tail slapping calves and adults, breeches, and pectoral slaps. On our last day, a small craft advisory was posted. Getting on the bobbing tender was a challenge as it lifted sometimes 2-3 feet along side the Explorer. Katie always seemed to manage well despite her broken leg. Many of us with 2 good legs made it look difficult. As we left on our morning exploration that day, Tom our boat driver and owner of the company kept saying “this is borderline”. Not a confidence builder.
We drove about in a large circle several miles in radius around the 3 big boats. Before lunch we ran into a group of ‘Rowdy Boys’ and followed them for a while. After lunch the seas were a bit calmer but again several hours looking for whales. This was our last day and we all wanted an in the water encounter with a mother and calf which had been elusive. Just about 4 o’clock we spotted a mother and calf followed closely by an escort. We followed for quite a while and the mother and calf seemed to stay close to our boat. The escort did not want us there, performing big tail slaps near us and rolling to slap his pectoral fins at us. He would bellow as he broke the surface and the mother would sometimes bellow back.
The escort kept the mother and calf moving so we didn’t get into the water with them. Eventually, Tom called Lorenzo and his tender over to switch places. We motored a ways away and Tom radioed Lorenzo to consider a ‘flyby’. For this, the tender is moved in front of traveling whales, you roll over the side and wait for the passing whales. A short while later, Lorenzo radioed the flyby was a success so we turned around, got our gear on, readied the cameras and dropped into the water in front of the approaching mother and calf. Mom approached then kinda stopped so we were up close with mom and her calf who circled about the mother. The escort appeared underneath us from the haze. He got between us snorkelers and the mother, then started winding up his tail. Gillilan, the scout, and I were about 10 feet from the tail of the escort but he was backing up. The Gillian and I started backing up as well and there were shouts from the tender to get back. The escort came backwards horizontally swiping his tale at us to within 5 feet. I started backpedaling faster! Luckily he did not chase as I’m not that fast and all were able to get back in the tender safely.
We enjoyed a boisterous celebration of having survived and the escort spy-hopped us just off the side of the boat, maybe giving us a ‘what do you think about that!’ We headed back to the Explorer for a happy hour toast and another wonderful meal.
Currently we are headed back to the DR, sitting in the sun, reading books, typing blogs, enjoying life. I’ll post this and then eventually when I get photos and videos from other folks I will post those on this site as well.
Salud
