Swim with the humpback whales???

[k374]

Humpback Whale Encounters: Swim and Snorkel with Humpback Whales - Conscious Breath Adventures

Something I found on the net, claims that you can swim with humpbacks in the open ocean...is this some kind of BS?
If it is indeed true then wow! but I have my doubts! I have dived enough to know that some operators over promise things which don't pan out in the end!

[roturner]

They're migratory animals so you can predict *about* where they're going to be.

Some people from our dive club went to Norway a couple of years ago to go diving with Orcas and it all worked out. They brought back some great video and I was jealous. Obviously you can't give 100% guarantee but most whale spotting adventures do actually spot whales. Sounds interesting but I'd bring an extra pair of underwear incase one gets too close. They're REALLY big!

R..

[itempleton]

It does sound amazing and as far as I'm aware it's true. The Silver Bank has been on my to do list for years.

[DandyDon]

I used to know a woman who did a similar trip there. She loved it. One guy got too close and got fluked by one a few years ago, breaking some bones. At least it was the last day of the trip but he had to endure a painful ride of several hours back to shore, then was treated locally with very basic medicinal science. Make sure you have emergency evacuation insurance! Actually, DAN membership includes such.

Ok found the discussion. He was an LDS owner so I presume a DAN member? I don't guess it was possible to get a USCG chopper to pick him up in DR waters, but I got to wonder why he didn't get DAN to fly him to Miami for the surgery? DAN membership includes Travelers Assist medical evac arranged thru them, plus his Dive Insurance would cover the accident. See Whale Attacks Snorkler

[Tigerman]

Hey, if I broke my arm diving with whales, Id call the insurance company with a big grin on my face (between the swearing over the pain) and have a GREAT story to tell in about a thousand different ways of how I was attacked by the vicious whale

[DandyDon]

Well, maybe the "nine and a half hours slamming up and down, laying on a metal deck" was unavoidable.

But this part kills me: "...the Dominican doctor didn't have a general anesthetic. So the doc used a local. The victim got to watch the orthopedic surgery. The doctor also didn't have orthopedic tools so used a regular metal hack saw to repair the femur. Why didn't he call DAN and get them to come get him....??

Do get a satellite phone if you go so you can call for help on the way back in if needed. The medevac could have been waiting for him by the time he got to the airport.

[Tigerman]

OUCH! That sounds like a pleasant surgery..

But hey, more awsome story

[diversteve]

http://www.aquaticadventures.com/silver_bank/index.htm <- another slightly less expensive option - on the Turks/Caicos Explorer.

[mjarens]

In April 2010, we snorkeled with the North Atlantic Humpbacks and their newborn calves in the Silver Bank area, north of the Dominican Republic - and half way to the Turks & Caicos. We chose the T&C Aggressor for our charter, but Conscious Breath Adventures was there (on the Dancer Fleet yacht, I think) the same week. Or maybe it was the Explorer Adventures yacht. Anyway, only two yachts that week on the Silver Bank.

You really do get to snorkel (not dive) on the surface above the whales. The mothers are down at about 60 ft, and the calves go up and down, surfacing three times as often as the mothers. These are called soft encounters. There is no free diving allowed, no touching, chasing or approaching the whales, and the entire group of snorkelers must stay together in the water ie: you must stay in a line, next to each other the entire time you are in the water. When not in the water with a whale, you are in a dingy (panga) for four hours every morning and four hours every afternoon, looking for whales to "encounter" with.

It was a pretty cool experience. Our first in water encounter lasted about 30 mins, with the baby surfacing and swimming past our group, probably about twenty feet in front of us. At the end of that first encounter the mother came up from sixty feet and swam directly underneath our group of five snorkelers, at about ten feet below us. It was pretty spectacular. During the week we had several in water encounters, some lasting only thirty minutes and some lasting an hour. Sometimes the calves would come very close to us, other times not so much.

Just know this: During the five days you are out on the Silver Bank, you will spend approximately 40 hours in the panga, looking for whales and their calves. During our week, we spent between 8 and 10 hours total, in the water snorkeling with them. It is a very long day on the water, in a very small boat, with the driver, the in water guide, and 6 to 9 other snorkelers. If there are any "unusual personalities" in your panga, it makes for a long, long day.

The bonus on this adventure: You will end up with some of the most amazing u/w photos. Even I did, and I only take a small Canon Elph Point & Shoot. These u/w whale shots will be the memories of a lifetime for you.

[Manuel Sam]

Mjarens account is very accurate. It is truly a unique experience and definiely worth doing at least once.

I have been done this twice, once on the Aggressor and once on the Sun Dancer. The Explorer fleet also has a boat that does these trips. The season is from January to April.

The only word of caution that I would offer is that the cost of these trips is well over $3000 for the liveaboard alone, and for that, you get about 4 1/2 days of potential in-water encounters. Not a lot of bang for the buck, so to speak. Sometimes the activity and behaviors that you see on the surface while riding on the boat are also quite interesting

In addition to the Silver Banks, the island of Tonga also offers in-water encounters with humpbacks.