One day we were out on our boat and we were looking for humpback dolphins and we see the splash and blows, but they’re much bigger than humpback dolphins. So we decided to go and see what it was.
And eventually we found these two whales and we sat and watched them a bit and after a while we realized that there were two different species. And one was a humpback whale and the other was a Southern Right Whale.
And they were hanging out together and then they kind of like, came and hung out with us and there were three of us on the boat and my colleague put his hand into the water and was just like tapping the water with his fingers. And the Southern Right Whale came up alongside and sort of brushed his fingers and it was quite amazing. So then I leaned over on my side of the boat and I did the same thing. And this animal came underneath my hands and, yeah, just moved under my hands and I could touch it. And my husband was standing at the front of the boat and he didn’t reach in. But this animal must have realized that he was there because it came up and sort of came in front and raised itself quite high out of the water and invited him to touch it as well.
And that was the most amazing. Oh, my gosh, later in the day we could smell the animal’s breath and it just smelled like a foul fish tank. That’s how close they came and hung around. And eventually we had to go so that igdidn’t get too dark. And on the way back there was a whale shark as well.
So we didn’t have any time for the whale shark, but we did just stop quickly and have a look. It’s the one and only time I’ve ever seen a whale shark. And it was just. Yeah, something strange was happening that day.
-Shanan
This post was adapted from a voice recording in episode 92 of the Whale Tales Podcast, listen here
Photos by Brett Atkins
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