How to greet a Humpback Whale? The correct way to greet a Humpback Whale is to ensure your energy matches theirs and always maintain a respectful reactionary distance. All wildlife have a natural curiosity and none more so than the Humpback as they love to investigate and explore what is in their environment. Today we had many mums and calves in the resting grounds which was wonderful to see but our approach to these pods is always very important. Once arriving within range of a pod it is important to make a slow approach and maintain good reactionary distance from the whales. Approaching this way ensures you build a trust and bond with the whales from the very beginning of the interaction to see if they are comfortable with your company. Most times the whales are more than happy to approach and investigate our vessel but it is always on their terms as they take charge of the interaction.
The mother whales responded very well to our greeting today as we observed multiple pods converging and sure enough the conversation started. Pec slapping, breaching and tail lobbing erupted amongst the pods as one mum and calf began to breach directly towards our bow! It was spectacular and as she approached for a closer look she nudged her calf towards our bow for a very close encounter as they moved gracefully under our feet. A mother and calf on our stern took the opportunity to make a sneaky approach at this time as they tried to hide in our sound footprint and make a surprise approach and within a few minutes we had all five whales together which included a male escort. An explosion of white water ahead of us was observed as two adults launched into synchronised breaching and head lunging which was superb to see. A very busy day with the whales and a wonderful lesson in how to greet a Humpback Whale.
