having a little chat to a Humpback Whale
To say that these huge marine mammals are curious is a massive understatement. It is true that for the most part they simply go about their day foraging and basically being a whale. However, sometimes they are simply bursting with curiosity and can't help themselves to come over and investigate their surrounding environment.
So, we were planning to zodiac cruise in an area known as Antarctic Sound, which is on the north end of the Antarctic Peninsula. We planned to do this due to the huge congregation of humpbacks in the area and amazing calm sea conditions, which means a great opportunity to interact with some massive gentle giants. Well, as we lowered our zodiacs from the crane on the ship and were setting up our zodiacs for thus cruise a single large humpback whale decided to come over and welcome us to the area.
This big fellow swam and circled around the 10 zodiacs we had on the water for about 30 minutes, as we all just sat their patiently waiting for our turn for a close encounter. This photo is actually of me, all geared up in about 4 layers of clothing and a very large, somewhat ridiculous but warm hat. To continue, you may notice my facial expression is not one of happiness - don't get me wrong I am in my element right now. However, I was trying to explain to the whale that he is too close to me - so I am unable to film him underwater properly and he needs to just move back a few meters.
You might also notice one of my gloves is off, which was a little experiment where I splash my hand in the freezing water when the whale starts to approach to see if it increases their curiosity. From this photo it appears it worked... Just another day in the office on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Photo taken by one of our guests on board the ship
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You are an incredible friend. Honestly, I would love to be close to one of them, it's wonderful. Although just thinking about it I feel like a strange pressure. Hahaha One arm
Hello @thomasjmitchell, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!