WHALE!!!!!!

BY CINDI ROBERTSON

Cindi and Bob Robertson contributed this first piece with one of the best whale photos I have seen from Salt Cay. Thank you much.

March 2005: This was our third scuba diving trip to Salt Cay. Having already dove the wreck of the Endymion twice before, Debbie of Salt Cay divers, suggested that we go along and just snorkel.

After all the other divers got in the water to do their dive, Bob and I began paddling around the dive boat. Ollie yelled to us: "WHALES!" and he began to point us in the direction we needed to be for an encounter. Well, by the time we got to the spot, the whales were gone. So, we continued to paddle around the wreck site. Once again, Ollie yelled: "WHALES!" and once again Bob and I quietly paddled in the direction Ollie was pointing. We were about 200 yards or so, away from the boat, in 40-50 feet of water.

I looked, and couldn't believe my eyes! In front of us, about 10 feet away was a pod of 8 Humpback Whales! They were gently cruising past.......and smiling. (see photo). One of the whales came up to take a breath and I thought I would die! I've never heard a sound like that! It was as if somebody opened a steam valve underwater!! Ollie said later that we were so close when the whale came up he thought one of us would ride the whale! When Bob and I returned to the boat, we didn't want to say anything because we didn't want the other divers to feel bad.......but Ollie told them! They had no idea the whales were that close.
Well, as we began motoring back to Salt Cay, whales were spotted again. Ollie was able to get the big boat in close enough for EVERYBODY to quietly and gently get in the water. We all saw a Mother Humpback and her calf as well as a 'teenager'. 3 whales in total.

After returning to the boat, all excited, Ollie motored back to Salt Cay.....only to once again, see more whales. Once again, EVERYBODY quietly and gently got into the water and once again we snorkeled with 3 more whales. We all took photos and returned to the boat. On our way back to Salt Cay, once again, we saw more whales! EVERYBODY got back into the water to see 3 more whales!!!! So for the entire group we had the opportunity to snorkel with 9 different Humpback whales and for Bob and I it was a total of 17 WHALES IN ONE AFTERNOON! This is a moment we will never forget.


Contributing Editor Wendy Bateson enjoyed her time on Salt Cay this winter taking pictures of the Islanders. The philosophy of this blog is that one can never have too many pictures of people, nor can you have too much about the people of Salt Cay..it enriches our lives and makes us in our regular, daily lives, long for our time on Salt Cay.