Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W11

April 1 – April 8, 2017

Week Eleven of our 27th Season

We could not have asked for a better start to our eleventh and final week of the season here on the Silver Bank, Dominican Republic, the largest Caribbean mating and breeding grounds. Between now and the end of April the whales will be making their way back up to their feeding grounds on the east coast of the United States, Newfoundland, Iceland and even Norway. Whether their goal here was to spread their genes or give birth and raise their calves, all the whale activity this season has proven to be not only enormously entertaining but also essential in understanding more about the lives of our North Atlantic humpback whales. Our Aquatic Adventures guests that join us here can feel honored and proud that they are among the very few people in the world who have taken the opportunity to be in the water with these most enigmatic and graceful giants. And they have most surely spent just as much, if not more time in the water as well as observing them top side, than most whale biologists in the world!

On our very first day out on the tenders we got off to a great start, encountering four sets of mothers and calves in the first couple of hours! The first three had male escorts in tow and with only one thing on their mind, mating, they were adamant in keeping our distracting tender of excited guests from their chosen female. They also had challenging male whales to contend with making for some great surface activity to start our week! The third set however was simply resting in the Caribbean sunshine and allowed us to enter the water with them for an incredible encounter that lasted most of the day! For more than five hours mom and babe slowly moved along, sometimes logging at the surface and sometimes the mother rested below while babe rose up to breathe every two or three minutes. This late in the season the calves can most likely stay down for six or seven minutes but this playful youngster seemed to want to spend less time napping and more time with our awe-struck snorkelers! While at the surface the baby would flop and roll over mom’s nose in the very intimate and tender behavior, the “nose push” a comforting and bonding action for both mother and calf. The baby rolled off its mother’s nose, held itself vertically in the water and performed a few “spy-hops” where the calf pushed its little nose out of the water a few inches, exposing its tubercles to the air to take in sensory information. This behavior is always entertaining, intriguing and fun to watch from both under the water and top side. With these whales being as relaxed as they were we were able to call over our sister tender and take turns to be in the water so everyone could share in this very special encounter. After a long while the mother began fin slapping and the baby became a little more boisterous, rolling about at the surface, flopping and flapping, tail breaching and lob tailing. The young calf appeared to be practicing his moves, building up his strength to join its mother in the long journey to the northern feeding grounds.

The next morning we spotted two adults, most likely a male and female. As the pair fluked down they left the distinctive circular stillness at the surface, an up-welling of water made by the power stroke of the whale’s tail base, the caudal peduncle, as it swims down and away. This is known as the “fluke print” and this helps us locate the whale after they have left the surface. Initially we thought that the pair might have been sleeping but as our scout and guests approached them they circled round and slowly swam by with their pectoral fins stretched out. The graceful pair banked round and circled our tender and snorkelers again and then passed underneath showing them their awesome size as they glided like fifty foot long submarines just thirty feet below. Our next encounter with a mother whale and her bouncing baby was much livelier! We are overjoyed to have seen so many mothers with calves this season and for this pair it was clearly exercise time. We stayed with the mom and babe, watching from our tender, for over half an hour while both breached over and over again! Fantastic strength building for baby and fantastic photo-ops for us!!

Soon after heading out on the tenders that afternoon the pace slowed down once again with our next sighting, another mother-calf pair. This time they were resting in shallow water. This new mom must have had her hands full with her precocious youngster earlier in the day as she took long naps in between breaths, sometimes up to twenty four minutes and the calf as much as five to eight minutes. Both slept peacefully while our guests floated at the surface a short distance away. It didn’t take long however for the young calf to become curious of its new observers and began rising to the surface every couple of minutes to circle round, intrigued with us as much as we were with it! The calf began to show off and play around, twirling and stretching and showing its ventral side to our snorkelers. And we could clearly see she was a flirtatious little girl! All the while the mother was content to rest below, so I guess we were good baby sitters! As well as the eight minute breath hold, the infant also had pretty good buoyancy. Being able to stay down and sleep next to its mother rather than having to tuck under her chin is another indication that this calf was well on her way to being ready for the long migration north. We were able to again share this amazing encounter and both Aquatic Adventures tenders took it in turns to be in the water with this relaxed couple. Over all we were with them for more than five hours!

Later in the week we had another fantastic encounter with yet another mother and calf. And we were again so fortunate to be able to enter the water with this peaceful pair and look down from the surface as they slept. The mother would rest with her tail elevated and the calf tucked under her chin. Perhaps this young calf had yet to perfect the buoyancy skills to the level of the last one we saw. The mother would stay down for around fifteen minutes and the calf, four to five minutes. Each time the baby needed to breathe it would peak its little head out from under its mom and ever so slowly rise up. As it rose up below us we could see many little fish, bar jacks, feeding around the calf’s mouth and as it got closer to the surface it would shake off the fish and bob up to take a few breaths just a few feet from us before returning down to the comfort of its mother. After more than two hours of this wonderful in-water encounter the pair woke up and the boisterous baby began breaching over and over and over for at least half an hour. Once again we were with this patient mom and entertaining calf for almost the whole morning, nearly three hours!

Photos: Eladio Fernandez

At this late date in the season when many of the single adults that came here to breed have already started to make their way back up to the feeding grounds, a large proportion of the remaining whales are mothers still here to train and strengthen their calves in preparation for the long journey north. This week and every week during the season we have been treated to plenty of exciting surface activity and different in-water behaviors from single adults, couples and groups but it is fair to say that this week has been exceptional for prolonged up-close, in-water encounters with mothers and calves. We feel grateful and privileged to have enjoyed such an action packed season and although we will have to wait a few years to see this year’s crop of new calves return to their birthing grounds for mating, we look forward to next season and reuniting in this magical place to spend time with our gentle giant friends, the “Whales of the Silver Bank”.

The Aquatic Adventures team hopes that you are as inspired as we are to help sustain the humpback whale population. Through our partnership with the Center for Coastal Studies, we are helping to gain critical information on these charismatic creatures, and to seek ways to protect and preserve them. To find out more about this effort, join their mailing list or to make a donation, large or small, please visit:

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W10

March 25 – April 1, 2017

Week Ten of our 27th Season

It’s Aquatic Adventures’ penultimate week on the Silver Bank and things are heating up! The surface activity this week was spectacular! While the humpbacks are here for calving and breeding they fast for the duration of their visit as the warm Caribbean waters cannot sustain enough food like the icy nutrient-rich northern waters can. So once a female whale gets pregnant there is little point in her sticking around. As more and more females start their journey to the feeding grounds so the number of available females for mating decreases and the urgency for the males to sow their seed increases! This week we saw several rowdy groups where the males were vying for the position of escort next to a female in the hope of mating again before the season comes to an end. In one such rowdy group this week we heard the distinctive “trumpet blow” from one of the challenging whales in a group made up of mother, calf, escort and two challengers. As the whale came to the surface to breathe, rather than just exhaling normally he would constrict his blow holes to produce a tonal sound much like the trumpet of an elephant.

Photo Credit: Lianna Nixon

Females with calves will often attract the amorous attentions of males. Even though these females most likely have no intention of mating because they have a young calf to nurse and train, like other species of mammals, these fifty foot, fifty ton males will do their best to impress regardless! This week’s rowdy groups made for some spectacular surface activity not only from the competing males but also from the mothers and calves. A mother humpback will use this high energy situation as an opportunity to exercise her young calf and strengthen them for the journey north, often traversing the Silver Bank many times in a day. The boisterous babes breached and lob tailed with periods of rest in between and during a couple of these nap times our guests had the opportunity to enter the water with three different mother, calf sets for several minutes at a time. Each time the guests floated above the resting mother while the baby would come to the surface close by our snorkelers every few minutes to breathe.

Also this week we were very lucky to see some interesting behavior from one young curious calf with its mother. The pair swam directly towards our tender, the calf at the surface and the mother just below and as the calf inquisitively approached the boat we were treated to a very cute and deliberate baby “eye-spy hop”. As we’ve seen many times this season, a “spy-hop” is when a whale raises the top of its head straight up out of the water exposing its tubercles and vibrissa to the air to take in information about the above water world. However it is also technically a “spy-hop” when the whale rolls on its side and exposes its eye to look above the water and this young whale did exactly that, right next to our tender and intrigued on looking guests. Humpbacks are able to do this as they have a flattened portion of their eye allowing them to see both below and above the water. The curious calf made a close circle around our tender before mom took baby off to continue on their way.

Photo Credit: Lianna Nixon

The next day we had another close encounter of the rowdy kind with a lone male whale. There were a few adults in the area moving around and one began breaching over and over, chin breaches, full spinning head breaches and tail breaches. It was a striking show of strength and prowess no doubt to impress any female whales in the area. And the human observers from our tender, both guests and crew alike were equally impressed watching the massive splashes from only twenty five feet away!! This animated male also “trumpet blew” but this time it sounded less like an elephant and more like a tiger’s growl!

Photo Credit: Lianna Nixon

For this our tenth week of the season, the fun and entertainment was not confined to the water as we were joined by some very talented guests who rounded off our relaxing and beautiful days out on the Bank with some live music on the sun deck of the mother ship, the Turks and Caicos Explorer II!

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W9

March 18 – March 25, 2017

Week Nine of our 27th Season

Photo Credit: Karen Vuolo

We are approaching the tail end of the season here on the Silver Bank, the largest of the Caribbean breeding and calving grounds, ninety nautical miles off shore of the Dominican Republic. However, for this, our ninth week, there were still plenty of humpbacks around and the encounters certainly did not decrease. Straight away on the very first day we had two very contrasting and special encounters; another visit from our playful friends the spotted dolphins and some of our guests had the chance to enter the water with a snoozing single male whale!

Day two brought mirror calm seas, stunning Dominican sunshine and more incredible whale encounters! We spotted a mother whale with her calf at the surface, ever so slowly moving along. Mother logged at the surface while baby played, gently splashing and rolling at her side. We stayed with the relaxed pair for a while, keeping our distance to gain the confidence of the mother and we were soon able to enter the water for a closer look. Mother and babe appeared completely at ease with our presence and most of the time the mother whale had her eyes shut resting while the calf flopped over her head and gently flapped its pectoral fins. This wonderfully tranquil encounter lasted so long that we actually were able to share these generous whales with our other tender. A “dine and dash” (where one group heads back to the mother ship for a quick lunch while the other enjoys the encounter and vice versa) meant that everyone had the opportunity to be in the water with this peaceful mom and calf. After the whole morning with these sleepy whales and the “dine and dash” the pair began to wake up a little and we were treated to some more energetic surface activity. The mother whale chin breached and baby followed suit, and then they did it again in unison!

Photo Credit: Karen Vuolo

The term chin breach is used when the whale rises up out of the water half way, cups in its ventral pleats and slams its body back down on the surface. This breach makes a lot of noise and is thought to be used for communication, however with mother and calf doing it together it was most likely baby training time and calf was receiving a demonstration from mom. The mother needs to build her calf’s strength, with both swimming and breaching skills, before they embark on the long journey to the northern feeding grounds. The lesson continued with spinning head breaching and lob tailing; it was very cute to watch the young calf’s attempts, barely lifting its little fluke out of the water and splashing it down again, over and over. This entertaining show of surface activity brought our in-water encounter to an end but provided great photographic opportunities before the pair moved on. This generous mother allowed us to stay with her and her calf from 9am until 4:30pm giving us a rare insight into a day in the life of a North Atlantic humpback whale and her babe.

Photo Credit: Karen Vuolo

As well as wonderfully calm encounters like this we have also seen some spectacular surface activity this week. One morning we came across four adult whales in a rowdy group, a female, an escort and two challenging males. The escort blew bubble streams, thought to act as a way to obscure the challenger’s view of the female but could also be an efficiency in breathing allowing the whale to take in a quick breath and return down into the fray with minimal time at the surface. A lot of the action occurred under the water but with the bright sunshine and clear water we could see the massive beasts maneuvering around each other, their bright white pectoral fins clearly visible from above the surface. All the while the female continued to fin slap, soliciting for more attention, presumably to widen her options for a potential mate!

The wonderful thing about observing nature is its unpredictability and our next encounter was completely different once again. This time we spotted two adults surfacing to breathe. Each time the pair came up for a few breaths between periods of resting below they would do some kind of surface activity, breaching or lob tailing. After a while they calmed down and we slipped into the water. Now, rather than sleeping the female began a ballet of sorts, turning gracefully and curiously cruising by our on looking snorkelers while the male hung around a short distance away. The female did this moving on a few body lengths each time, and in this way all the guests on that tender were able to enter the water several times with her and her escort. In another encounter with two adults we were treated to some more interesting surface behavior. This time the female rested below while the male performed some spectacular tail breaches and lob tailing. He no doubt also considered our tender to be a distraction for his female as he proceeded to fin slap over and over, more than thirty times, at the surface above her. He did this while rotating, rolling to take a breath every five or six slaps. This was surely an impressive show of testosterone and masculinity to ward off any challengers in the area.

Photo Credit: Karen Vuolo

This week our guests enjoyed beautiful sunshine and also bravely endured rain and clouds but the awesome encounters, both serenely peaceful and full of high octane action, more than made up for some grey skies. After our last day, with whales breaching on the horizon and rainbows adorning the clouds we headed back to the mother ship for our final beautiful Caribbean sunset of the week!

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W6

February 25 – March 4, 2017

Week Six of our 27th Season

As we enter mid season here on the Silver Bank, North Atlantic humpback whales are still coming down to the warm Caribbean waters of the Dominican Republic. The females that came here to give birth are now spending more and more time exercising and training their energetic and precocious young. Every day of this sixth week of the season we saw several sets of mothers and calves, some calm, allowing us to have treasured in-water encounters and some active, giving us unforgettable shows of surface activity.

Right from the get go, on our first afternoon we saw the blows of two whales, the full and puffy cloud of condensation shot ten feet into the sky of a mother alongside the distinctive little baby puff of her young calf. As we tentatively approached, both baby and mother did a full spinning head breach and then the rambunctious little whale calf continued to breach over and over again giving our new guests the show of a lifetime within their first few minutes out on the tenders. Why a humpback breaches has always been very much speculation and theory however in a situation like this it certainly looks as if the mother is demonstrating the maneuver to her growing babe and the calf is practicing again and again! It also looks pretty fun! It wasn’t long before the young calf needed a bit of a break and while the mother slowly swam and logged at the surface, the baby rolled and flopped adorably over its mother’s head in a behavior known as the nose push. When the mother dropped below the surface to rest the calf tucked itself under her chin. At that point we took the opportunity for our guide and guests to slip into the water just in time to see the youngster come up for one breath before they both moved on a few body lengths away. That first afternoon we were with the same mother and calf pair for over three hours and during that time she attracted two different escorts. The mother was only interested in nursing and training her calf and showed little interest in the males that would swim close by and circle the pair, sometimes positioning themselves between the mother and our tender. In between rest stops on mom’s nose the baby continued to breach over and over and over. We went on to see lots of surface activity from more pairs of mothers and calves making for a fantastic first day!

The next morning we were again rewarded with another mother and calf encounter. This time there was no escort in tow and the relaxed mother allowed our lucky snorkelers to enter the water several times. The pair was resting in an area of the Silver Bank protected from the elements by many coral pinnacles making a beautiful backdrop for the intimate encounter as the sun shone on the turquoise water. In between the “soft in-water” sessions we looked on from the tender while mother and babe enjoyed the sunshine, baby gently flapping around at the surface and over mom’s nose. We were with this generous mother and playful calf most of the morning and all our guests on both Aquatic Adventures tenders had the chance to be in the water with them.

This week we were also fortunate to have our first “in-water” encounter with off shore Atlantic spotted dolphins! The day started out with yet another mother and calf sighting but we soon realized that they were not going to settle as four adult whales came through the area – two challengers in pursuit of a female and escort. As they passed by we noticed the dolphins heading towards our tender. Swimming with dolphins is so much fun and such a different experience to being with whales. Rather than calm, quiet, tranquil encounters with gentle giants, it’s fast paced, exhilarating and playful! The dozen or so dolphins were attracted to the sound of the engines, bow riding and circling the tender but once the people got in the water the dolphins swam around and dived back and forth with our snorkelers for twenty minutes or so. Definitely a fun way to exercise!! While we were in the water with the dolphins the four adult humpbacks from earlier cruised by below us and carried on off to another area of the bank! In the water with dolphins and humpback whales!! Not many people can say they’ve done that!!

With barely enough time to dry off we next encountered two adult humpbacks sleeping together. The female would stay down for approximately twenty four minutes while the male would nap for a shorter time rising every so often to do perimeter checks for challenging males in the area. As the female rose from her slumber each time she would turn towards us and spread her pectoral fins, oh so gracefully. We were in the water with this sleepy pair for two breathing cycles and after the first ascent the couple actually circled around and returned to swim by our lucky snorkelers twice before moving on a few body lengths.

During this baby boom week we witnessed plenty of surface activity, far on the horizon and close up. Whether it was the young calves honing their skills or the mothers attempting to control their rapidly growing babies or the males displaying their prowess and worthiness to father the next generation, the result was a spectacular demonstration of breaching repertoire from these ‘acrobats of the sea’.

Photo Credit: Sheila Jenson

On Wednesday we were again in the water with mothers and calves. However one encounter with humpbacks is very different to the next and these two were like night and day. In the morning the calf was rambunctious and frisky, making wide circles far from her mother and giving our snorkelers exciting close-up views. In the afternoon the pace calmed and we had a forty five minute long and peaceful in-water encounter with a mother and young calf as the mother rested below and babe rose every couple of minutes before returning to rest under mom’s chin. This kind of experience is a real treat as it gives you time to really soak up the tranquil atmosphere and contemplate just how unique a place this really is.

On the last day of this charter, after, yes you guessed it, another mother and calf encounter first thing in the morning, the afternoon brought us the opportunity to experience something completely different. Humpback calves will stay with their mothers for up to four months here in the breeding and calving grounds and after traveling back to the northern feeding grounds together they will stay a total of about eleven months before they begin to fend for themselves. Once the young whales reach sexual maturity at around four years of age they will return to the same breeding grounds but that’s not to say that they won’t come down a couple of years early to see how it’s all done! That afternoon we came across a single sleepy juvenile female, possibly just two or three years old. Size is not a reliable measure of age. Like humans, humpbacks can be small or big no matter how old they are, however we could assume she was young as it is rare to see a female without an escort if she is sexually mature. This sleeping beauty also appeared to still be perfecting her buoyancy skills as every time she swam down to nap she would swim on a body length or two and then slowly rise again to the surface and float there for a few minutes while taking breaths. Up, down, up, down, the pretty young whale continued in this way for over an hour completely at ease with the on looking snorkelers. If this were not entertainment enough we could also hear whale song the whole time we were in the water and it was getting steadily louder and louder. We couldn’t help but wonder if this sleeping beauty was drawn to the sound and sure enough not more than ten minutes after leaving the immature female we located the singer. For the third time this season all our incredibly lucky guests got to experience not only the 2017 humpback number one tune in person, but thanks to the keen ear of Denise (Aquatic Adventures tender captain and whale guide of the Silver Bank of ten years), we were able to locate the lone singer and look down on him from above as his melody vibrated through our bodies.

Photo Credit: Jodi Axel

Photo Credit: Sheila Jenson

With the song of the Silver Bank still in our heads and our hearts, we headed back to the mother ship to watch the sunset and look back over another fantastic week with the whales.

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W5

February 18 – February 25, 2017

Week Five of our 27th Season

Photo Credit: Christine Olson

What a fantastic start to our fifth week here on the Silver Bank, the largest calving and breeding grounds for the North Atlantic humpback whales in the Caribbean. On our first afternoon out on the water we were encouraged to see plenty of blows and breaches out on the horizon and before long we glimpsed the dorsal of a whale silently slip under the surface just a few hundred feet from our tender. As we waited patiently for the lone whale to resurface we started to notice some very faint squeaks and whoops and realized we were listening to a singer! Humpback whales have the widest frequency range of any marine animal and their song can carry for miles underwater so it is not surprising that as we came close we could hear it above water too. This one-man-traveling-band however was swimming while he was singing and we were unable to pin point his position and get into the water. The next set of whales we found were a mother and calf that we, the crew, recognized from two weeks previously because of some distinctive scarring on the mother’s front dorsal. We hoped that this relaxed mother would remember us and honor us and our new guests with a view of her beautiful baby once again. We observed the mother logging at the surface for a while with her baby playing around her and resting affectionately over her head before they both dived down to rest. At this point our scout slipped into the water to find out if she would tolerate a few spectators and luckily she seemed totally comfortable with our on looking snorkelers. While mama napped below babe came to the surface to breathe, staying more or less over it’s mother’s head and spent several minutes playing at the surface providing our enchanted guests with (for most of them) their first very special close up underwater view of a humpback whale. This wonderful encounter might have gone on for much longer if it hadn’t been for a pair of adult whales that passed close by and caused the mama and baby to move on… so yes, believe it or not, sometimes it is possible to have too many whales!!!

Photo Credit: Christine Olson

Photo Credit: John Pierce

The next morning all our guests had the chance to be in the water with the whales. We came across a sleeping pair of adults, a female with an escort. They would stay down for around sixteen minutes often sleeping in what appeared to be an affectionate pose, nose to nose and when they rose to the surface to breathe our lucky guests were treated to an up close view as the whales cruised by before settling down again a few body lengths away. Both tenders rotated to be in the water with the pair and everyone had a chance to see these mighty beasts in their sleepy slumber state for four or five breathing cycles, more than an hour.

Photo Credit: Christine Olson

Photo Credit: John Pierce

That afternoon the action picked up considerably! As soon as we left the mother ship after lunch we saw a blow not far away. We approached and waited and only a few seconds later, BAM! A full spinning head breach less than a hundred feet from our little boat! And then another, and another!! The two adult whales that we had seen that very morning had woken up with a burst of energy! The spinning head breach is what humpback whales get their reputation as the “acrobats of the sea” for. They will haul almost all of their body out of the water (with really very little “run-up” needed), throw out their fifteen foot long pectoral fins to create the spin and slam their forty five tons down onto the water surface, creating a massive splash! After maybe five or six of these spinning head breaches they moved on to chin breaches. These take less energy but create a tremendous noise. And finally both whales did a couple of tail breaches too! After this excitement the couple calmed down and continued on their way, leaving our guests and crew aboard the tender awe struck with this impressive show and the photographers in the group overjoyed! What a performance!

Photo Credit: Christine Olson

Photo Credit: John Pierce

As the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up we headed back to the mother ship for a hot shower and happy hour, content with our day on the water. However the whales had other plans and shortly after tying up the tenders we spotted three adult whales at the bow. The charismatic trio, almost certainly a female with an escort and challenger, entertained us for more than an hour with a beautiful ballet of spy hops, twirling and rolling around our mooring balls. It is remarkable to see such majestic giants, maneuvering so gracefully and showing such interest in our boat and on looking passengers. Once again we were stunned to see such a relaxed group of adult whales and felt extremely privileged that they had chosen to play and explore around our ship! As the sun set and the whales moved on we were left with a profound sense of love and gratitude for our giant friends here on the Silver Bank.

Photo Credit: John Pierce

Our penultimate day of this week was again spectacular! We started out with a mother, calf and escort only five minutes after leaving in the tender. At first all was calm and tranquil and we entered the water for a short time to see the baby tentatively rise to the surface and take a breath. The mother and escort came up a short while after and moved on a few body lengths. We then watched from the tender as the young calf rolled and played around it’s mother’s head while the escort made a big circle around the couple – a perimeter check for any incoming challengers. Our attention returned to the mom and calf while the babe did what is undoubtedly the cutest behavior of all – the nose push. This very intimate action is thought to be done directly after birth when the mother assists the calf to take her first breath. However when we see this behavior reenacted well after birth up until the calf is at least a few weeks old we can be sure that it is a comforting and bonding experience for both the young whale and new mother. It was after this that we noticed the escort had returned and his behavior had changed. He was moving faster and blowing bubble streams. Two challengers had arrived. Our Aquatic Adventures tender stayed with the five whales as they picked up the pace and the escort fended off the challengers. When males are fighting over a female with young, even though it can get very violent between the males, it is rare that either mother or calf is harmed. This mother and calf began to travel quite fast and the baby took advantage of it’s mother’s slipstream, spending time on her back to conserve energy. After a while the challenging males moved away from the mom and calf and we did too to give them their space and time to calm down after the rowdiness!

We didn’t have to wait long before our next encounter! Straight away we found two adults close to our mother ship, the Turks and Caicos Explorer II. We soon realized that this was the same female that was showing great interest in us, our tenders and our mother ship from earlier in the week and quite possibly from the previous week as well! Whether it was the hum of the generator or the purr of our four stroke engines or just the excited squeals of our snorkelers, something was drawing this curious whale to us and we were happy to have the opportunity to enter the water and see her again. The female danced, slowing turning, arching her back and stretching out her pectoral fins, displaying her underside. At the surface she logged and rolled and gently swished her fluke. Just feet below the snorkelers she opened her mouth wide extending her ventral pleats and a few times she released air from her blow holes creating a stillness at the surface just like scuba diver’s bubbles. We can only speculate what unusual behaviors like this represent but the more time we spend with these mysterious animals the more we can hope to understand them and learn from them. This inquisitive female spent more than an hour circling the mother ship and spy hopping only feet away from the back deck where we threw out a line from the stern so the snorkelers from each of our tenders could take turns to float and watch in awe. For our first time guests this indescribable experience really helped to give perspective, seeing these huge animals so close and so completely at ease in their domain. For returning guests, for some of whom this was their eighth time to the Silver Bank, it really brought home the sensation that these whales really are individuals with different personalities and characters and that they do have a genuine interest in the friendly humans that come to visit. During all of this the male escort was doing big perimeter checks around the female and the boat, occasionally cruising by and eventually managed to lure the female away to rest. We located them again a short distance from the mother ship and each group got in the water one more time to observe them sleeping before they headed off to another part of the Bank. Whether these two whales mated or not we will never know but we will certainly be keeping our eyes peeled for this intriguing young female over the next few weeks.

Looking back over the last five days we had some incredible and unique encounters that more than made up for one day of bad weather. Everyone including our repeat guests went away with wonderful memories and photos and plans to return to see our majestic giants of the Silver Bank once again.

Photo Credit: John Pierce

www.coastalstudies.org/aquaticadventures

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W4

February 11 – February 18, 2017

Week Four of our 27th Season

After a windy start that unfortunately blew out our first day on the Silver Bank, Mother Nature repaid us with some absolutely perfect whale watching conditions. With flat calm seas, beautiful Dominican sunshine and just a hint of a cooling breeze on day two we could see the whales’ blows from miles away, but what we hoped for was something a little more up close and personal, and we certainly got that, making up for the day we lost! After only a very short time of scanning the horizon we were rewarded with a pair of adult humpbacks that came right up to our tender and floated at the surface to check us out only a few feet from the stern of our boat. As is usually the case in this kind of situation, the female was most inquisitive and proceeded to circle our tender while her male escort hung around close by. The curious couple was so relaxed that we were able to have our first “soft in-water” encounter of the week, meaning that our lucky guests were able to float at the surface and see the whales in their domain in a meeting of mutually curious mammals. Staying close to the tender the snorkelers watched in wonder as the female whale hung just under the surface, nose pointed towards the tender, taking in the sights and vibrations of her human observers for several minutes. We were still very close to our mother ship, the Turks and Caicos Explorer II, when we found these whales, so much so that after a while longer of checking out our tender and guests the pair then moved just a few hundred feet away and circled the mother ship several times, giving our cook and purser a very special encounter as well! While this was going on we called over our other tender and sure enough they circled that boat too, many times and so all our guests were able to be in the water with these gentle giants as they peacefully investigated us and our vessels. Overall we spent more than three hours with this fascinating and generous couple of whales!

Photo Credit: Don Coons

Photo Credit: Ken Greenwood

Photo Credit: Anne O’Herron

That afternoon we had another very special encounter, this time with a mother humpback and her calf. The North Atlantic humpback whales are here in the Silver Bank exclusively to breed and give birth and they will not feed until they return to the nutrient rich northern waters. While a mother whale nurses her calf she may lose up to a third of her body fat before she can feed again, so they really need their rest. We stayed with this mother and babe for a while and after gaining her confidence she allowed us to enter the water. While she rested below, our snorkelers floated overhead and watched as the young calf came to the surface to breathe every three to four minutes. At first the baby was quite shy but curiosity soon got the better of the youngster and with each ascent the little circle above it’s mother’s head got larger and larger, giving our lucky guests a wonderful up close view.

Photo Credit: Don Coons

Of course these new calves need exercise too and later in the week we came across a mother and much more active calf, this time with an escort. The mother humpbacks go back into estrus within thirty days after giving birth, however with a calf to nurse and strengthen up and a long journey north still to make, it is extremely unlikely that she would add the extra stress of getting pregnant again so soon. Despite this it’s not uncommon to see a mom and babe with a male in tow, as he will hope to mate with her regardless. The escort will stay for a few days and if the female does not show any interest he will leave to find a more promising mate. In this case the three whales were traveling together and resting was the last thing on the calf’s mind. This bouncy baby had boundless energy and we were treated to some spectacular surface activity. The young calf had obviously only recently discovered the joys of breaching and like most children when they find out they can do something fun, they do it over and over and over again! The babe thrilled us with a continuous display of spinning head breaches, chin breaches and tail breaches for more than half an hour and we counted nearly fifty! This tremendously entertaining show was experienced by one of our tenders early one afternoon and luckily our other tender encountered the same set of whales later that very same afternoon. Unbelievably the calf still had plenty of energy and gave these guests yet another show of it’s strength breaching again, over and over. For sure this calf would have slept well that night, and as the sun began to set over the Silver Bank we left the trio to return to our mother ship after another beautiful day with the whales.

Photo Credit: Don Coons

Photo Credit: Ken Greenwood

This week was another extended charter and on our last morning we again had beautiful sunshine and mirror calm seas, and most importantly more wonderful whale encounters! In less than four hours that morning we heard a singing whale, got in the water with sleeping whales and came across a rowdy group! Our guests this week had already had the chance to hear the whales with the hydrophone but it is always such a special treat to locate a singing whale and feel the vibration in your chest as you listen in the water. The sleeping whales allowed our guests to have one last opportunity to get in the water and say their farewells in person, looking down on the resting pair only fifty feet below. We stayed in the water with the whales for two breathing cycles; as they slowly rose to the surface they would swim by our snorkelers and the second time the female took a few breaths and circled our guests before heading back down to sleep again.

The icing on the cake this week was a brief but very exciting bout of surface activity from a rowdy group of just three whales, a female with an escort and a challenger. We first spotted them as the female was fin slapping at the surface and as the males jostled to be next to her, fighting for the position of escort they gave us a great show of tail breaches and slashes. You can really appreciate the size of these powerful beasts as they plow though the water raising their dorsals high up before diving back down into the fight. If the escort sees that another male has managed to get close to the female he can push him away with a maneuver called an S-curve. He will throw out his fifteen foot long pectoral fins to “slam on the brakes”, raise his head out of the water and swoop down to one side to replace the challenger and maintaining position as her potential mate. With all this excitement only feet away from our tender we had some fantastic photographic opportunities and it made for a great finale for the week!

Photo Credit: Ken Greenwood

Photo Credit: Don Coons

Photo Credit: Anne O’Herron

Want to hear an excerpt of this year’s song from a North Atlantic humpback whale? Recorded 1/30/17 on the Silver Bank.

www.coastalstudies.org/aquaticadventures

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W3

February 4 – February 11, 2017

Week Three of our 27th Season

As we arrived at the Silver Bank for week three of the breeding and calving season we saw plenty of surface activity from the mother ship and felt confident it was going to be a great week. And we were not disappointed, with tranquil sleeping whales, fast paced rowdy groups and everything in between!

Photo Credit: Tammy McCorkle

On the second day we found three adult whales together, a female and two males, an escort and challenger. The trio were very calm, resting and slowly traveling, however when we came closer the female turned to us and appeared to be more interested in our tender than her suitors. She would circle the tender, rolling on her back, spreading her pectoral fins and gently slapping at the surface with her fins and fluke. We were treated to some close up views of her tubercles (modified hair follicles all over her head) as she slowly raised the tip of her head out of the water in a behavior called spy hopping. Spy hopping is most likely done to gather information via a whisker-like hair in each tubercle and this curious, seemingly playful whale was as interested in us as we were in her. At one point she even opened her mouth and showed us her baleen! The two males were also very calm, allowing our guests and guides on both Aquatic Adventures’ tenders to rotate in and out of the water and observe the trio as they gracefully maneuvered around each other and our boats. It was almost as if the female enjoyed the noise or vibration of our engines because she returned to circle one of the tenders over and over again resulting in a fascinating and intimate encounter for more than three hours. The escort and challenger stayed close by and rather than pushing the female away and battling for her attention they seemed content to wait for her as she indulged in the happy cries of our guests. Often when a female humpback is seen with more than one male whale, the males are competing to be chosen as a mate resulting in a high energy rowdy group that’s great for surface activity photo opportunities but not for an in-water encounter. So our guests this week were very lucky to experience such a relaxed set of whales, and have the rare chance to enter the water with them.

Photo Credit: Tammy McCorkle

As the season goes on we are seeing more of this kind of flirtatious behavior between males and females as they choose their mates. Later in the week we came across another group of adult whales where the calm female was clearly controlling the tempo of the encounter. This time the female was initially with just an escort but they were soon joined by a challenger, then another and another, and another! Even though the males showed interest in the female they weren’t in a rowdy mood and we were able to get in the water once again. This time our snorkelers floated above the female as she rested under our tender with her tail up and head down and watched as the males made perimeter checks, circling her and our guests at the surface. To be in the water with this many fully grown humpback whales really was an awe-inspiring experience and for an incredible two and a half hours each tender took a turn to be with the whales. Then the female seemed to rouse and began fin slapping and moving faster, spurring the males to display to her their less sensitive side and show her who would be the strongest mate. More rowdy behavior ensued with bubble streams, trumpet blows and tail slashing. We certainly got out of the water but the excitement didn’t end there and we enjoyed the surface activity for a while longer.

Photo Credit: Nancy Gaudino

Not only did we have these fascinating encounters with adult whales we also saw several pairs of mothers and calves this week. We saw surface activity like breaching and lob tailing from both mother and calf as the new mama exercises and trains her baby and on three occasions we were very fortunate to gain the confidence of the mother and get into the water with them. One sunny morning we found a mother with her very young babe resting in a shallow area of the Silver Bank where there are many coral pinnacles, making for a beautiful back drop. While a mother humpback whale sleeps she only needs to breathe every twenty minutes or so, however for a calf this young it’s every two to three minutes. We had a wonderful view from the surface as the baby would peak out from under mom’s chin, resting there while they napped because they still can’t really control their buoyancy. Then baby would gently bob to the surface for a breath. As the calves grow they become more confident but this little boy was quite shy, staying over mom’s head making what we call the “little circle thing” before returning to tuck back under mom once again.

Photo Credit: Tammy McCorkle

This week was one of our extended weeks on the Silver Bank and on the last day we were treated to beautiful calm seas and sunshine and another wonderful mother and calf encounter. This time the pair was not sleeping, they were slowly traveling at the surface and after observing them for a little while we slipped into the water and watched as they very leisurely cruised by for several minutes. The calf was playing alongside the mother and sometimes would lay on top of her head. It truly is a rare and precious thing for a mother whale to allow people to share in the tender bond between her and her calf and we are so happy when our guests leave with these very special memories.

Photo Credit: Tammy McCorkle

Looking back over the week we really have seen an incredible variety of behaviors and feel privileged to have been able to see the whales in their natural habitat both above and below the waves. Thank you humpback whales of the Silver Bank!

Juvenile brown boobies and frigate birds on the wreck of the Polyxeni | Photo Credit: Tammy McCorkle

Photo Credit: Nancy Gaudino

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W2

January 28 – February 4, 2017

Week Two of our 27th Season

As the season goes on, more and more North Atlantic humpback whales are arriving to the Silver Bank. The pregnant females come here to give birth to their calves and then nurse and exercise them until they are ready for the journey back north, whereas the males come here with only one thing on their minds, and that is to mate. So it was no surprise when our second week here on the Bank was kick started with some impressive rowdy group action! A rowdy group, or surface active group as they are sometimes called, is composed of one female and at least two males competing to be her mate. The male that stays closest to the female is called the escort and in a rowdy group any number of challenging males could be vying for that position. On the morning of the first full day out on our tenders we encountered a female with an escort and one challenger. This is technically a rowdy group, however for the female it was apparently not enough excitement as she proceeded to slap her pectoral fins on the surface of the water in a manner that certainly seemed provocative, in the hope of attracting more males to the area. Sure enough, after a few minutes more challengers arrived and soon the surface activity heated up. Now with five fully grown forty to fifty ton male whales competing for the prized position of escort, our on looking guests were treated to quite the show of testosterone as the whales slashed their tails, lob tailed and slapped their fins. In battles like this, whales are rarely seriously injured but it can get very violent and it was possible to see fresh wounds on the white pectoral fins and the tubercles on the head and chin were rubbed raw and bloody by the animals slamming into each other under and above the water. We stayed with this high energy group for nearly two hours and meanwhile our other tender was enjoying a very different but equally special encounter only a mile away.

©Bruce Miller

As we quietly approached a single whale that we had seen coming to the surface for a few breaths, we could just hear the distinctive whoop and squeak of whale song even above the water and over the sound of the engines and we were able to locate it by following the sound. Whale song can be heard with the use of a hydrophone all over the Silver Bank this time of year but finding the singers and getting into the water with them is another story entirely as they will often move around as they sing. Fortunately this whale was staying motionless, perfectly neutrally buoyant in the typical position of horizontal but with the head pointed downward, at a depth of about forty feet. Our lucky snorkelers were able to slip into the water and see as well as hear the whale from the surface. It has been found that all the singing humpback whales in a given population will sing the same song during the mating and calving season and that song will partially change from year to year. The song is approximately twenty five minutes long, depending on the tempo of the singer and a whale may sing continuously for up to twenty four hours. Luckily this singing whale stayed in one area for several breathing and singing cycles, allowing us to call over the other tender so that all our guests could hear him. Many species of whales vocalize but only humpbacks are famous for their prolonged and complex series of whoops, moans and squeaks that make up their song. Even if you’ve heard a recording, nothing really prepares you for the sensation of hearing and feeling the sound as it vibrates through your body as you lie at the surface of the water over the head of a singer. Later that day we came across a second singer so even though singers themselves are not rare, to be in the water with them is an experience that really very few people in the world can say they have had. Despite several of the guests this week being return visitors to the Silver Bank, this very special experience was a life changing first for most of them.

Shortly after leaving the singer we were very fortunate to find two adult whales resting calmly just below the surface. When we looked closer we could see they were dancers, a male and female, and we watched as they swam around each other slowly in a beautiful ballet that we believe to be a prelude to mating. Our guests from both tenders were able to take turns entering the water and watching this graceful performance for an hour. The female, totally at ease with our presence, would pirouette around the male displaying her belly to us with her pectoral fins outstretched. It was clear that the escort had been though the wars somewhat as he showed many scars across his back, possibly old entanglement scars, and a shortened right pec fin. However this didn’t seem to make him any less attractive to this female! We tend to see more of this kind of courting behavior at the beginning of the season because there are more single females than towards the end. Once a female becomes pregnant she will not waste time before embarking on her return journey to the nutrient rich northern waters.

Even after these incredible encounters the excitement continued, as we also encountered several sets of mothers and calves, two of which swam together for a while with an escort. This was an unusual occurrence as we have observed that mothers tend to prefer to stay away from other mothers and calves. In this case the five whales swam along side each other and the calves even breached in close succession. But after a few minutes the escort encouraged one of the pairs to move away. We stayed with the other mom and babe and were treated to a spectacular show of lob tailing from the mother before they settled down and allowed us to enter the water with them. The mother rested down below and every few minutes the baby would surface, staying over the mother’s head giving our patient snorkelers an intimate insight into the gentle bond between mother and calf. On another occasion with a mother and calf we were able to rotate the guests from both tenders in the water with the whales while they rested calmly. After a few breathing cycles the baby decided to try out a breach, swimming about a hundred feet away from our snorkelers and heaving it’s relatively small (but still fourteen foot long) body mostly out of the water, landing on its back with a splash. After this the mother seemed to say “I’ll show you how to do it!” and took off up wind a few more hundred feet away from our guests in the water and did an impressive full body, spinning head breach! Wow! A spectacular finale to the encounter!

Photo Credit: Pippa Swannell

This week was a real mixed bag full of emotion and excitement. Not only did we have the thrilling topside action of breaching and rowdy groups but also the peace and calm of being in the water with mothers, calves and singers.

Just another extraordinary week on the Silver Bank!

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S27:W1

January 21 – January 28, 2017

Week One of our 27th Season

This year Aquatic Adventures embarks on our 27^th year on the Silver Bank, the North Atlantic humpback whale calving and breeding grounds in the Caribbean. The whales we have come here to see travel thousands of miles from the frozen far Northeast coast of the United States and Canada and even Norway for mating and giving birth to their young in these warm tropical waters.

It is estimated that throughout the months of January through April between five and seven thousand whales visit the Silver Bank, a 33 square mile area of shallow plateau approximately 90 nautical miles north east of the Dominican Republic, and some have most certainly already arrived.

Photo Credit: Hugo Asberg

For this first charter of the season we were very lucky to have with us a wonderful group of people from all over the world that travel together incorporating healing meditation and heart energy sharing into their marine mammal interactions and experiences. This warm and enthusiastic attitude towards the whole experience, combined with some beautiful Caribbean sunshine and (mostly) calm seas, resulted in us all, guests and crew alike, having a wonderfully relaxing and peaceful first week!

Photo Credit: Hugo Asberg

Photo Credit: Hugo Asberg

The whales too seemed to be happy and comfortable with us offering our snorkelers the rare and privileged opportunity to enter the water with them and observe them in their domain. After some far off sightings of flukes and blows on the horizon our first close-up encounter was with a mother and calf, accompanied by a third whale, an adult male known as the escort. With the hope of mating, this escort will stay close to his chosen female in order to fend off other potential mates. This first encounter was brief but some of our keener guests were able to slip into the water and see the whales underwater for the first time as the trio slowly swam by. The next day we found a couple of adult whales that again allowed us to approach gently and by timing their breathing cycles we could surmise that they were most likely sleeping. These sleeping whales made for an ideal in-water encounter for our guests as they would stay down for twenty minutes or so between surfacing, allowing our snorkelers to simply lie at the surface and look down on these magnificent fifty foot animals only forty feet below in their most peaceful state. Each time the graceful giants stirred and slowly raised to the surface the female would turn and expose her ventral pleats and underbelly to our lucky guests looking on from only a few feet away. In this way all the guests on both Aquatic Adventures tenders were able to take it in turns to be in the water with the whales for over two hours!

Photo Credit: Bruce Wayne

Later in the week we were very fortunate to encounter another mother with a young calf, still showing the pale grey color of newborns. This early in the season this calf could well have been one of the first calves of 2017 and if the mother or calf had shown any dislike of our approaching tender we would have immediately let them be. However despite the calf’s newness to this world both mother and calf appeared at ease. This pair was again accompanied by an escort who when we first approached was displaying his prowess at the surface with fin slapping and tail breaching, but with no other males close by for competition he was giving the mother plenty of space and opportunity to exercise her new calf, remaining close by but not crowding the mum and babe. Before the escort eventually moved on with the mother and calf, we observed the three whales both above and below the water for nearly forty-five minutes and at one point the mother even allowed the youngster to swim close and investigate our excited snorkelers.

Photo Credit: Bruce Wayne

With our very special whale encounters and the wonderful energy from our group of animal lovers it made for a perfect first week. We are always grateful for any interactions we have with the majestic humpbacks of the Silver Bank and look forward to another spectacular season!

Photo Credit: Hugo Asberg

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures

Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

Aquatic Adventures Whale Tales S26:W11

April 2 – April 9, 2016
Week Eleven of our 26th Season

As our eleventh and final week of 2016 has come to a close, we can look back over the season and feel grateful and privileged to have once again been invited to see these most graceful and awe-inspiring creatures in their own very special domain. As the end of April approaches, the last of the North Atlantic Humpback Whales that we see here on the Silver Bank and surrounding calving and breeding grounds will make their way back up to the Northern feeding grounds on the east coast of the United States and Greenland and off the coast of Norway. Those whales that were still here for this last week of the season treated us to some great surface activity and also to some wonderful and unforgettable in-water encounters.

We saw spectacular top-side activity from competitive groups of males hoping to mate one last time with a willing female, with numbers reaching as high as nine whales in one group. One can never tire of witnessing the raw power of these enormous beasts as they fight one another jockeying for pole position next to the female. These high energy battles can go on for hours and it is not surprising that they will often have “time-outs” to recuperate their strength and continue the rivalry. We were fortunate to be watching a group of seven whales when this “time-out” was called.

There were many chances to get in the water this last week. We were very lucky to encounter a relaxed mother, calf and escort resting in preparation for the long journey north. The mother allowed us to enter the water and watch her calf for a few breathing cycles while she and the escort rested below. We also encountered some individuals that appeared to be making the most of the warm and gentle waters for as long as they could before the need to return to the feeding grounds became too urgent. We had a young solo whale that stayed with our tenders for more than an hour simply resting and playing at the surface and a male/female pair that circled the tenders with obvious curiosity for their human visitors.

Once again we found our playful friends, the off-shore Atlantic spotted dolphins, or rather they found us! On the final day of the season we were treated again to another encounter with a chilled out humpback mother, calf and male escort that kept us entertained for more than half the day! This time the group was swimming ever so slowly not making any effort to leave us, as if the mother simply wanted to exercise her young calf in preparation for their migration. We had many opportunities to enter the water and watch the gentle giants as they slowly swam by just fifteen feet from us. Even more special was the very rare sighting of the mother nursing, expressing a thick and extremely fatty milk for her young calf. After a wonderful final week, this last in-water encounter really made the season for our guests and crew alike.

It’s been another unforgettable season on the Silver Bank of the Dominican Republic. We thank all of our guests for joining us and sharing in the magic of this very special place and most of all we wish for our giant friends, the Whales of the Silver Bank, a safe journey back north to fruitful feeding grounds. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

www.coastalstudies.org/aquaticadventures

Thanks to all who have generously donated this season!

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Written by: Pippa Swannell, Aquatic Adventures
Designed by: Heather Reser, Aquatic Adventures

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