Woman crushed by Humpback whales - Australia

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Concur with the above. Dived with them, good friend is a MB specializing in cetatians. No scenarios she has ever seen / heard of where a mother with calf has any concern about a human diver. Too small to ever be considered a threat. Highly likely that it was a freak accident. Could well have happened during a surfacing and been unavoidable. Without video there is no way to know.

A diver was hurt here in a situation where we have limited information. Hope the people on this board who have defaulted to suggesting individuals are ‘idiots’ and this somehow deserve to get hurt underwater etc. Never find themselves in a similar situation when diving...shameful.

 

[DandyDon]

Back in 2007 there was a thread here about people being taken to swim with whales and their calves down in the Caribbean somewhere, one fellow got fluked and others injured, then had to just suffer on nine hour boat ride for medical treatment, no general anesthesia, and primitive operating conditions, but was looking forward to doing the trip again next year...
Whale Attacks Snorkler

Another from 2015 that sounds worse from the title, but the contents vanished...
whale kills person

And a couple of warm fuzzy stories from 2008 & 2009...
Dolphin and Whales save fisherman

Beluga whale 'saves' diver

 

[Mike1967]

Concur with the above. Dived with them, good friend is a MB specializing in cetatians. No scenarios she has ever seen / heard of where a mother with calf has any concern about a human diver. Too small to ever be considered a threat. Highly likely that it was a freak accident. Could well have happened during a surfacing and been unavoidable. Without video there is no way to know.

A diver was hurt here in a situation where we have limited information. Hope the people on this board who have defaulted to suggesting individuals are ‘idiots’ and this somehow deserve to get hurt underwater etc. Never find themselves in a similar situation when diving...shameful.

Well said!

 

[AfterDark]

@Must_dash Which do you see as a human the calf or the mother?

 

[Cali_diver]

Concur with the above. Dived with them, good friend is a MB specializing in cetatians. No scenarios she has ever seen / heard of where a mother with calf has any concern about a human diver. Too small to ever be considered a threat. Highly likely that it was a freak accident. Could well have happened during a surfacing and been unavoidable. Without video there is no way to know.

A diver was hurt here in a situation where we have limited information. Hope the people on this board who have defaulted to suggesting individuals are ‘idiots’ and this somehow deserve to get hurt underwater etc. Never find themselves in a similar situation when diving...shameful.

While in Tonga I observed a mother and escort, who had been sitting/resting still in the water column while baby floated near by, suddenly move with great force and speed towards a snorkeler who got between the mother and baby. I wouldn't say that they were aggressively attacking her but they definitely didn't care about her being in their way. It was pretty scary to watch. I had spent a week with this other snorkeler and she had been told repeatedly not to swim close or get between mom and calf. From what I have been told and subsequently learned from experience is that it is often the escort that might get protective/aggressive so we have always kept a close eye on the escort.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Bob, the Nova episode also showed a topological map of the underwater canyon system by Monterrey. It's a unique formation that goes deep rapidly, which allows for upswell of many nutrients, thereby attracting whales feeding on krill and small fish.

About 3-4 years ago I surfaced about 150 yards from a humpback at South Monastery, where the canyon comes very close to shore. Maybe its just selective memory, but in recent years people have been posting alot of close encounters in the Monterey area, including that one video of a calf passing right by a dude at freaking San Carlos Beach. I wonder if the humpbacks are hugging the coast more for whatever reason.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Apparently, these tours have an adverse effect on whales: Think twice before booking a luxury ‘snorkel with whales’ safari - Whale & Dolphin Conservation USA

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Apparently, these tours have an adverse effect on whales: Think twice before booking a luxury ‘snorkel with whales’ safari - Whale & Dolphin Conservation USA

love when this gets posted by groups who are awash with photos of underwater whales.... 'no...we mean YOU shouldn't go near whales underwater...WE can go near whales because we love them more...'

My pal (CRETACIAN blah, blah) says that she isn't too concerned with this as the cost/difficulty of getting there is unlikely to mean that there are going to be numbers to make an impact...but also...'sure, in a perfect world noone would get in the ocean for a 'recreational reason' and we should just leave everything alone' etc.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

love when this gets posted by groups who are awash with photos of underwater whales.... 'no...we mean YOU shouldn't go near whales underwater...WE can go near whales because we love them more...'

My pal (CRETACIAN blah, blah) says that she isn't too concerned with this as the cost/difficulty of getting there is unlikely to mean that there are going to be numbers to make an impact...but also...'sure, in a perfect world noone would get in the ocean for a 'recreational reason' and we should just leave everything alone' etc.

Agreed on the images used. People will look at the pictures and forget everything written.

I used to have a link that was fairly dry (no pictures) that I posted in a local FB group, but I suspect someone in that group who leads these tours got it deleted. Haven't been able to find it since.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Found it! Effects of whale-based tourism in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga: Behavioural responses of humpback whales to vessel and swimming tourism activities - PubMed