We did it and it was the most awesome and scariest thing I have done underwater. We were getting ready to leave Huahine, without having pursued diving with Humpback whales. The cost was going to be $400 for the three of us with no guarantee we would see any whales. Anyways I meet a boat load of French girls who seemed interested also some friends of ours Brad and Linda came into the anchorage the day before we were going to leave. Well the long and short of it, the French girls did not want to but Brad and Linda did so we planned to go the next day. So it was just the five of us.

We got out to the Ocean on the other side of the reef and our guide spotted a mother Humpback and her baby on the surface. The mother was resting and the calve swimming all around her. On the first swim I got to within 50 ft but was a little leery of getting closer. They are big animals, 50-60 ft in length with a really big tale and it was a mother with her baby (maybe a little protective). So I just hung back a little. Eventually (5-10min) the mother started to go down and the baby followed. So we all got back on the boat and waited for them to surface (about 5 min). We then jumped back in again. This time when they went down I followed them in the water to where they surfaced again. This time I got to within 30ft. The mother must have been feeding the baby because I saw a stream of milk (heavy cream) 50ft long streaming out of her caused by the baby breaking off from eating.

The baby was only about 2 weeks old. When they are born they are 14’ long and weigh 2.5 tons. They drink 100 lbs of heavy cream ( 12 gallons) each day. After a year they are 30ft long and weigh 10 tons (20,000lbs).

There are only 15,000 Humpbacks left and at one time there were 100’s 0f 1000’s. Each year they come up from Antarctica to the Pacific (Aug.-Nov.) primarily to breed and give birth. They do not eat anything the whole time during the trip or while up here. They live off their fat. So a female will get pregnant one year up here and 12 months later on the next trip to the pacific, she will give birth. The reason for this is that the baby is born with no fat. So the mother gives birth in the warm Pacific water and not Antarctica.

I can not begin to describe what the experience was like. It was just awesome.

So we left Huahine on Saturday for Tahaa Island about 20 miles to the west. We are now looking forward to exploring a new Island. We will be here for a week and then off to Bora Bora.

Love Gary