On the second hour out to sea, I start to wonder if the whales have gone home. No one was coming out to play. But we persisted, and found a mother whale and her calf.
Above all else, regulations concerning whale swimming are strict and set up to protect whales. Swimmers must be extra cautious when swimming with baby whales, for baby whales have yet to learn boundaries. We are warned: if a baby swims close, swim away.
The first jump out of the boat, brought to view a surreal scene. Lying on the bottom of a shallow reef was the mother whale. When she came into clear view, she was enormous and bigger than any male we had seen. Hovering next to her, was her calf. Just waiting patiently.
"Just waiting patiently" is a human construct. It's how it appeared to me and how I interpret a calf next to her mom. But the scene may have had nothing to do with "waiting patiently." Perhaps there is no whale action that includes waiting or patiently. After three days of searching for and observing whales, the more I understand, that human emotion and behavior do not translate to whales. They may be sentient and intelligent, but how sentient, how intelligent? We bring our perspective, but human perspective falls short of reality.
The mother and baby surfaced. And then they were gone. We followed them. Group two waited to get in the water. When they did, the whales again disappeared. It appeared to be a game of cat and mouse.
Another hour bobbing around the sea. We stopped for tea, cookies, and papaya.
I figured we'd had the best of what whale swimming could offer that day. I dried, put on a dry shirt, zipped up my rain jacket and put on a fleece cap. I was done for the day. I wasn't going to shiver and dance on the boat to stay warm. If there were more whale encounters, give them to those who were still willing to jump in the water just in case a whale felt like being observed--there it is again, my human projection on whale behavior.
Fortunately, the whales slowed down enough for another encounter. I cheered from the boat. The calf turned towards the swimmers. They excitedly thought she was coming for a closer view, but whether she was frightened or whether her mother called her back with some unknown sound or vibration, she did a quick turn around...and then they were gone.
It's a good thing, because I don't think any of the swimmers would have, could have, swam away.
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