Saturday was the first day for group four of the season. Scouring the sea outside of Hunga, I glimpsed three blows on the horizon. As we got closer to them, we saw that it was a mum and calf, plus two other blows. As Ali positioned us for a first drop, it

Comparateur de voyages http://www.hotels-live.com/ : Hotels-live.com/blog - Saturday was the first day for group four of the season. Scouring the sea outside of Hunga, I glimpsed three blows on the horizon. As we got closer to them, we saw that it was a mum and calf, plus two other blows. As Ali positioned us for a first drop, it became obvious that the mum and calf had an escort, and the fourth blow was from a challenger, looking to unseat the escort from his position. We hit the water for the first drop, cleared the wake and were presented with the mum and calf up close and the escort and challenger behind her. It was a pretty quiet swim-by in very clear water, a nice simple first encounter for the new group. From the second drop onwards, things changed. The challenger would make a move on the escort and the whole pod would spiral around us, the challenger coming up close to check us out, offering some “nerves of steel” moments for us as he came on some very close passes. Often they would double back on us, giving multiple chances the capture the spectacle. There were some amazing moments – this was shaping as one of those magical encounters that I, for one, dream of. After one close pass, Don (on the second of his trips with me for the season) popped his head up, blurting out expletives (that I can’t repeat on a G rated Instagram feed) and announcing that he’d “died and gone to whale heaven”. The pod started heading toward shallow water and for a few drops we could see the sea floor beneath us and the cathedral rays forming, adding extra dimension & depth to the scene. Then I saw it. All four whales were down deep near the bottom, tracking toward a patch of white sand amongst the reefs. We had to swim hard to keep up with them, and I knew that for the image to work I needed all of them above the white sand so their grey shapes wouldn’t merge with the grey reef and be lost. As they started to clear the reef I saw their shadows forming on the sand, and I was…well… just like Don. What I love about being on the water here is that every day is different, and I love the whales for always working hard to give us something new. #2015whaleswim ‪#‎tonga‬ ‪#‎whale‬ ‪#‎humpbackwhale‬ @canonaustralia @nauticamhousings @ocean Hotels-live.com via instagram.com/p/7AVgSwKLGH/ via http://flic.kr/p/y1z4yn