Two O'Clock, a hundred yards!
Coming up on Jonathan Bird's Blue World,
Jonathan travels to the Caribbean to swim with one of the world's largest animals...
the Humpback whale!
Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
( ♪ music )
Whales are the largest animals on Earth. Yet ironically they are one of the most difficult
animals to see and film.
Normally Humpbacks are found in the cool and rich waters of the temperate seas. But every
year for a short period of time, Humpback whales from the North Atlantic migrate to
the warm and clear waters of the Caribbean to mate and give birth.
And one of the largest gathering places in the world is the Silver Banks, in the Dominican
Republic.
The Dominican Republic occupies half the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean sea. Just north
of the island is a shallow area called the Silver Banks—that's where the whales are found.
During the summer, Humpbacks live in the cool, murky waters of the North Atlantic where there
are huge schools of small fish to eat. They migrate two thousand miles down to the Silver
Banks in the winter so they can have their calves in warm, calm, protected tropical water.
This is the best place to film them underwater because the ocean is so clear.
I will be working for the week aboard the Turks and Caicos Aggressor, a live aboard
dive boat that spends about two months a year here in the Dominican Republic.
I board the boat and meet Captain Amanda Bryan.
For most of my expeditions I need a lot of dive gear, but for this expedition, all I
need is my mask, fins and snorkel.
Soon we depart from the marina and begin a 90 mile trip north over the open Caribbean
Sea, under a beautiful blue sky. Our journey takes about 6 hours.
When we reach the Silver Banks, I can see why this area is popular with the whales.
Isolated coral reefs dot the entire area like a minefield.
They provide protection from waves, but the water between the reefs is still 80-100 feet
deep, providing the depth that large animals like whales need.
This is just one of many shipwrecks that have accidentally hit one of the reefs in the Silver
Banks. In fact, the bank gets its name from the large number of galleons carrying silver
and treasure that supposedly sank here.
Captain Amanda carefully moves the boat around the coral heads to a mooring where our floating
home-away-from-home will stay all week.
Amanda: "...so I need at least 300 feet of line out at this point."
Soon, it's time to launch the Zodiacs. We will use these smaller boats to attempt getting
close to the whales on the surface.
While the Zodiacs are going into the water, Humpbacks surface right around our boat! I
can hardly wait to get in the water with them!!
The next morning, my team and I board the Zodiac for a day on the water. Now it's
a matter of patience and persistence. While Captain Dennis is driving the boat slowly
in search of whales, I'll be watching the horizon for hours, looking for whale spouts.
Before we find any whales, some dolphins find us!
Our divemaster Mario is on the bow with a keen eye for whales in the distance.
Finally, a whale that looks approachable.
Jonathan: "Two o'clock, a hundred yards!"
The whale is just hanging out, not moving very fast, and doesn't seem afraid of our
Zodiac as we float nearby.
It's time for me to attempt getting close to the whale in the water. I put on my snorkeling
gear and lower myself very quietly into the water. Once I have my camera, I float silently
in the water to see if the whale will come over to check me out.
The whale is hovering down below, looking up at me. She might be curious, but not that curious.
I wait a bit longer to see if she will come up and investigate.
After a few minutes, the whale starts to surface. Either I have piqued her interest, or she
just needs a breath of air. Humpbacks can go nearly an hour on a single breath if they
need to, but resting animals like this one usually breathe every 20 minutes or so.
Soon, it appears that the whale is just getting a breath, and has no interest in me.
But she turns around for a quick look anyway. If she would just come a little closer!
No such luck. She turns and swims away. Her massive tail, called a fluke, is as wide as
two cars parked next to each other!
I watch her swim away. Chasing after her would be no use. Even when they are barely swimming,
whales swim much faster than snorkelers.
Jonathan: So frustrating! The whales are just really skittish. They don't want us near
them. We're actually frightening them. It's hard to believe that an animal that big could
be scared of us!
So, we head off looking for some different whales. What we need to find is a mother and
calf. Sometimes, the calves are more curious than their mom.
Mario: "Okay, two o'clock whales!"
Mario finds another whale, and decides to see if it will let him get close. He puts
on his gear and slips into the water. I'm waiting to see what happens. But the whale vanishes.
Jonathan: We're having a little bit of difficulty getting the whales to accept us. They don't
mind the boat so much, but when we get in the water, they're swimming away.
Fortunately there are plenty of whales around, and soon we find another one.
Once again I silently slip into the water. There's no way I'm going to sneak up on
a whale—they know we're here. I'm just trying not to frighten them with a big splash.
I look around to find the whale. You might be surprised how well they blend in to the
bottom from a distance.
And there she is, about 40 feet below. Her calf is hiding below her.
Soon the calf sees me in the water and comes out for a look. This looks promising! The
calf appears small compared to his mother, but he is larger than a minivan. He only looks
small because his mom is larger than a school bus!
The calf takes a quick look at me and decides to go back down to his mom.
But pretty soon mom needs a breath and starts heading to the surface. The calf follows.
As he passes me, he does a barrel roll, just for fun.
Eventually his curiosity gets the best of him and he finally swims over for a look at
me! He comes so close that his fluke is only a foot from my lens!
And then he comes back for another pass!
I can feel the water move as his fluke passes by!
Jonathan: Oh Man, that was just epic! Wow, there is just not way to describe that except
magical! I was looking at this calf, it was huge, it was looking back at me. Just kind
of staring at each other, it was really playful and mom was letting it come over and hang
out. Just such an amazing experience to be in the water with an animal so huge!
It's getting late so we head back to the boat to enjoy a beautiful sunset and get some rest.
The next morning, we load the Zodiac again and hit the water, looking for whale action.
We see a mother and calf resting nearby, so Mario and I go in to see if the calf will
play with us!
When we approach, the mother is rolling around, while her calf is staying on the other side.
Soon the calf gets curious and comes over to check me out.
Then mom comes over too. She gives me a look, takes a breath and dives down after her calf.
Later in the day I come across a couple engaged in a Valentine dance. The female is hovering
vertically in the water with her flippers out to the sides, to beckon the male over.
She has juvenile jacks, a kind of fish, nibbling on the loose skin on the front of her rostrum.
I wonder if she finds them annoying, like flies buzzing around a person's head, or
if she enjoys the cleaning she is getting.
She doesn't mind my presence at all—I float right over her head and she just hangs
right below me, with the complete attention of the male Humpback.
It's a remarkable spectacle to float above this whale and watch her relax, with tiny
fish nibbling on her nose!
Later, having witnessed an incredible spectacle, Mario and I return to the boat.
Jonathan: "Wow, that's amazing. They are so huge but, at the same time they are so
graceful, I mean they just relax. When you get them in the right mood and they let you
come close, they are just so relaxed about having us there. It's amazing they will
let you so close."
And so, at the end of another day at the Silver Banks, I watch the sunset and think back on
the magical experiences I had with Humpback whales. Of all the places in the Blue World,
this is clearly one of the most special.
( ♪ music )