Whales, whales and more whales!

by Cheryl Maughan, Wolf Rock Dive

Every year we seem to be seeing more and more of these gentle giants.

Customers always get a special thrill when they see them breaching, tail slapping, spy hopping or waiving their massive pectoral fins around.  Then we’re further entertained under the water with their whale song.

But actually seeing them while diving is another thing.  It’s a bit like that elusive hole in one shot when you’re playing golf or running the length of the field to score a try.

Imagine our excitement this month and when we happened to bump into one under the water!  And I mean literally bump into one – we were swimming towards a part of the formation that rises up which hid both us and the whale from seeing each other.

From the opposite direction I had seen a grey nurse shark swim behind the formation and was getting ready to get a photo as we crested the top of the rock when to my surprise a humpback whale appeared right in front of me.

I excitedly tried to get the other diver’s attention before snapping off a photo and with one casual movement of its tail fin it was gone.

The whale and I probably only got to spend about 5 seconds looking at each other before it was out of visible range.

Water temperature is 19 degrees and visibility has been varying between 5 and 10 metres.  Looking forward to a busy spring this year with the warmer weather already here.