Scuba Adventure With a Humpback Whale - A Very Close Encounter
This year marks the 40th anniversary of my first scuba diving certification.
At the time I was first certified, I had no idea the scuba adventures I would subsequently find myself in.
It was a beautiful day at Kaiwi Point with calm seas, no wind, and over 100ft of visibility.
The company I worked for had two boats out that day, Bob was the captain of one, and I the other.
Our dive groups were in the water over the shallowest portions of the reef.
Bob and I saw the pod of whales approaching from the south and we both started pounding on our dive ladders to alert the divers to move toward the drop off.
From that vantage point they may catch a glimpse of the whales as they swam by.
The patterns of bubbles indicated that all but one of my groups had heard the alert and were heading toward the drop off.
Rick's group was not moving which did not surprise me due to his inexperience as a dive guide.
I quickly put on my mask and fins and began swimming toward the group, hoping to snorkel down to let them know what was going on.
Very quickly I realized I would never make it to the group in time so I decided to stop to see if I could catch a glimpse of the pod as it swam past.
The depth below me was perhaps 400 ft and I was surrounded by the deep blue coloration of extremely clear water.
I was scanning the surface, and directly below the surface, for any sign of the whales.
I couldn't see any sign of them, and was not entirely surprised, because it is rare to be able to swim out to a pod of whales and get close enough to see them.
Something then made me look down and I gasped in shock as directly below me, coming straight up, was a 45ft humpback whale.
I felt paralyzed much as a deer must feel when caught in headlights.
I didn't know what to do or where to swim because I didn't know where this huge animal was going to go.
The whale suddenly stopped its ascent and veered slightly away so as to miss me when it surfaced.
I could clearly see its eye as it passed within feet of me before the water it displaced blew me away like a leaf in the wind.
The whale was the size of a school bus with huge white pectoral fins and was now on the surface mere feet away.
Bob later said he thought I was going to be rolling off its back but I had just learned this was impossible as it was to big and I was to small to overcome the pressure of the water it displaced.
The gigantic gentle creature moved to dive and I saw the fluke coming up next to me.
Once again I was pushed away by the force of the water as the fluke lifted into the air and looked very much like a two story building emerging from the sea.
The whale started down, twisted to look at me with a final glimpse, and disappeared into the blue beneath me.
To this day I am not entirely sure if I was breathing throughout the entire experience.
When I got back onto the boat Bob was screaming at the top of his lungs and he yelled he was sure I was going to get run over.
I was more than a little shaken but mostly humbled as only the ocean can do.
Everyone saw the whales, except for Rick's group, but none as close as me.
40 years ago, I had no idea how my scuba diving certification and subsequent scuba classes would my enrich my life with many scuba adventures.
At the time I was first certified, I had no idea the scuba adventures I would subsequently find myself in.
It was a beautiful day at Kaiwi Point with calm seas, no wind, and over 100ft of visibility.
The company I worked for had two boats out that day, Bob was the captain of one, and I the other.
Our dive groups were in the water over the shallowest portions of the reef.
Bob and I saw the pod of whales approaching from the south and we both started pounding on our dive ladders to alert the divers to move toward the drop off.
From that vantage point they may catch a glimpse of the whales as they swam by.
The patterns of bubbles indicated that all but one of my groups had heard the alert and were heading toward the drop off.
Rick's group was not moving which did not surprise me due to his inexperience as a dive guide.
I quickly put on my mask and fins and began swimming toward the group, hoping to snorkel down to let them know what was going on.
Very quickly I realized I would never make it to the group in time so I decided to stop to see if I could catch a glimpse of the pod as it swam past.
The depth below me was perhaps 400 ft and I was surrounded by the deep blue coloration of extremely clear water.
I was scanning the surface, and directly below the surface, for any sign of the whales.
I couldn't see any sign of them, and was not entirely surprised, because it is rare to be able to swim out to a pod of whales and get close enough to see them.
Something then made me look down and I gasped in shock as directly below me, coming straight up, was a 45ft humpback whale.
I felt paralyzed much as a deer must feel when caught in headlights.
I didn't know what to do or where to swim because I didn't know where this huge animal was going to go.
The whale suddenly stopped its ascent and veered slightly away so as to miss me when it surfaced.
I could clearly see its eye as it passed within feet of me before the water it displaced blew me away like a leaf in the wind.
The whale was the size of a school bus with huge white pectoral fins and was now on the surface mere feet away.
Bob later said he thought I was going to be rolling off its back but I had just learned this was impossible as it was to big and I was to small to overcome the pressure of the water it displaced.
The gigantic gentle creature moved to dive and I saw the fluke coming up next to me.
Once again I was pushed away by the force of the water as the fluke lifted into the air and looked very much like a two story building emerging from the sea.
The whale started down, twisted to look at me with a final glimpse, and disappeared into the blue beneath me.
To this day I am not entirely sure if I was breathing throughout the entire experience.
When I got back onto the boat Bob was screaming at the top of his lungs and he yelled he was sure I was going to get run over.
I was more than a little shaken but mostly humbled as only the ocean can do.
Everyone saw the whales, except for Rick's group, but none as close as me.
40 years ago, I had no idea how my scuba diving certification and subsequent scuba classes would my enrich my life with many scuba adventures.
