THE DAILY WHALE #009 ... WELL THE "DAILY TURTLE" TODAY!
Last month I shot a job on the Ribbon Reefs, out from Cooktown, for Tourism Queensland. On the last day of the 6-day shoot
we came across and photographed a loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) at Dark Reef, off Port Douglas.
On closer inspection of the photos, I found it had been tagged, and with the help of some photoshop enhancement, out of all those megapixels we managed to recover the name of the tag owner - SPREP - off one tag, and a partial number off the other tag.
Details of the find have been passed on to SPREP, who are based in Apia, Western Samoa, and hopefully we'll find out some history of the turtle's travels.
More about the shoot in a later post.
THE DAILY WHALE #008 - SOUND OF TOKU
40 nautical miles north of Tonga's Vava'u Group lies Toku - a low, palm-lined, coral-fringed island paradise. Toku is wild and mystical, it's warm surrounding
waters a magnet for humpbacks. I'd wanted to visit ever since my trusty whaleswim skipper Alistair told of his experiences there helping film the humpback
sequences for the BBC series "Life" back in late 2008.
Since arriving in Vava'u this season, we'd been checking windguru, waiting for the weather window that would create conditions suitable to venture so far from our usual whaleswimming waters. Wednesday 29 September began to look promising as the daily forecasts updated, so we made the call to get an early start for the 3hr voyage north. The day dawned heavy and raining... but the air was still. We loaded Dreamcatcher and left the harbour in Neiafu, with the blanket of grey lifting. As Vava'u shrank into the south, the skies cleared, the seas were light and after first seeing Toku's high volcanic sister - Fonualei - rise from the horizon, we began to glimpse our destination between the swells.
At first Toku was quiet. Resident terns and brown boobies were curious, hanging above Dreamcatcher as we searched for signs of whales. Then a welcoming breach got our attention. As our first hour progressed we started to appreciate the number of whales here. A blow to the west, a couple to the south and another beyond them. We made a couple attempts to work with some pods, but to no avail - the whales here wanted us to earn the privilege.
Then we happened upon a single, settled animal - battle scared and sporting a very worn dorsal. His pattern of surfacing close-by and his consistent down-times suggested he may be singing. When a male sings, he'll lie head-down, motionless below the surface and announces his presence with a melodic tune that crosses the sea. Al and Pete positioned the boat close-by and we dropped in above his expected position. The water was warm and soft like a bath, light rays descended into the depths and the sea was alive with sound - an intense wall of frequencies vibrating our eardrums, our watery bodies and even the hard metal and glass of our camera housings. I'd heard singers before, but none like this. For an indeterminate age we hung above his giant tail fluke, soaked in his alien sounds.
Put Toku's location in perspective in a larger map
THE DAILY WHALE #007 HUMPIES, PILOTS AND SPINNERS... IN ONE SWIM!
After group two started yesterday without much time in the water but some great surface activity...
Today started out with plenty of excitement! Out past Submarine Rock we came across a pod of 5 humpbacks
being accompanied by a pod of short-finned pilot whales and some playful spinner dolphins.
This was the first time I'd been fortunate enough to see both humpbacks and pilots on the same swim (and get them both in one picture), and the first time spinners let me get close enough to even snap a picture! They're usually very shy of swimmers, but today was an exception.
Thanks to some great boat work from our skipper Al, we were able to stay amongst the group for a number of drops as they moved north along the outside of Hunga. The humpbacks were a little elusive, but the pilots were a bit more accommodating today.
We have marine researcher Libby Eyre on board this trip, she called today's group of three species a "Mixed-Species Aggregation".
THE DAILY WHALE #006 - CALVES JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
The last day of trip 1 has ended with a flurry of activity! Weather on the improve and some great fun with a very
chilled mum and her playful calf. Everyone had heaps of time in the water. The calf enjoyed some quiet time with mum,
provided some close encounters for all the group... and plenty of action! It's such a privelage to be welcomed
into the whale's world.
Calves just want to have fun from Darren Jew on Vimeo.
Part two of our Whaleswim Adventures Photo Tour trip report... direct from Vava'u, in the Kingdom of Tonga!
So the first half of our first Whaleswim Adventures Photo Tour for the season is now complete, and the team is off the water tommorrow for a well-earned rest.
Over the last couple of days ...This Daily Whale comes direct to you from Vava'u, in the Kingdom of Tonga!
I'm here hosting Whaleswim Adventures' photo tours and today was day 2 for our first group. They've got 6 more days on the water, and as you can see from the images here, we got straight into the thick of it!
Check back every few days to see how the trip unfolds!
Here's an account of the first few days...
THE DAILY WHALE... WITHOUT TURNING ON YOUR COMPUTER!
If you enjoy The Daily Whale, why not grab one of my new Whale Swim wall calendars for 2011?
Featuring 12 spectacular images of humpback whales both above and below the surface, the calendar makes a great gift for yourself... or with our special early release, there's plenty of time to get them in the Christmas mail to friends and family at home or overseas.
The first 20 customers will also receive a free set of 3 whale greeting cards with their order, so click here to visit the shop and order yours today!
It's always amazing to pop your head below the surface and see one whale... but on this day, off-shore at the northern end of Hunga Island, we were lucky to encounter a pod in the clearest water I have seen... all I wished for was a wider lens... five whales was the most I could fit into the one frame!
Southern Humpback pod (Megaptera novaeangliae) off Hunga Island,
Vava'u Group, Kingdom of Tonga
View the location in a larger map
Bringing the terrestrial and marine worlds together in one image is something I like to do... it's always a challenge, even in the shallow, sheltered waters of a coral lagoon.
So in deep open water - even on a calm day - the wind, surface chop and 30 tonnes of whale can sure add to that challenge.
Southern Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) near Ovaka Island,
Vava'u Group, Kingdom of Tonga
View the location in a larger map
THE DAILY WHALE
Here's the first of what I hope will be many editions of The Daily Whale, a periodical pick-me-up for anyone with an affinity for the sea.
I've been in the water with bottlenose on a number of occassions (and it's always a blast) but this was the first time I'd seen them underwater unexpectedly. On all previous encounters, I'd first seen the dolphins from a boat then dropped into the water... knowing full-well I may or may not see a dolphin, let alone have everything come together well enough for a photograph. This day however... I was hanging on the surface above Lighthouse Bommie, waiting for manta rays to swim by (if the winds and tides are right, manta rays sometimes call in at Lighthouse to be "cleaned") when on the edge of visibility I made out the shapes of the approaching pod. After spluttering a "dolphins" call to my assitant Jen, I was able to watch as they glided by, acknowledging me with a glimpse and a lazy roll, before disappearing. Wow. They were the last thing I expected to see that day.
Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) passing over Lighthouse Bommie,
Lady Elliot Island Great Barrier Reef, Australia
