Humpback Whales Play With Divers in Tonga; Attempt Contact

Amazing whale encounter documents interaction between humans and playful Humpback Whales, sometimes referred to as "Dancers," in Tonga .
The unique video, shot by Rob Barrel, owner of the live-aboard dive boat NAI'A, shows Humpbacks approaching humans free-diving in Tonga, south of Fiji. Highlights of the four-minute video clip show a whale spreading its pectoral fins as it mimicks diver John Tressman, another whale posing for author/photographer Paul Mila, and finally a humpback pirouetting for videographer Rob Barrel, and extending a pectoral fin attempting to make contact with him.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• humpback whales
• Paul Mila
• Whales' Angels
• Rob Barrel
• NAI'A
• free diving
• whales
• thriller books
• underwater photography

[paulmila]

You can do this through the NAI'A organization.

I tried giving you the website but this damn service blocks it. Go to naia without apostrophy, add the .com and then .fj

Best time is end of July, all of August and early September. I did it in August.

[paulmila]

The opening sequence is a mother & calf and an escort. Probably not the whales' father but a male hoping to get lucky.

The middle sequences with the diver are encounters with "teenage" whales called "dancers" because they like to engage humans and have some fun. They were mid-size, about 30 to 35 feet

The last sequence starting from the diver photographing a whale's white belly, was of two very large, 40 to 50 ft. mature adults who seemed to be starting to engage in pre-mating behavior.

[BLACKOUT17923]

i thought they'de be bigger david attembourgh was going on about ''oh there the bigest species on earth even posibly bigger than the biggest dinosaur...''......dudes its small

[paulmila]

Hi Blackout,

Well, adult humpbacks, like the ones in the video, range from 40 to 55 feet, pretty big in my book.

Fin whales go over 60 feet and Blue whales go 80 to 100 feet. Blue whales are larger than the biggest dinosaurs.

In person they are pretty awesome up close.

Paul

[paulmila]

Hi Derekoarmy,

Because sound underwater is so multidirectional, we never could determine if the sounds were coming from the whales we were looking at.

Regarding aggression, at the end of the video you see another whale in the background. Just before the "friendly" whale was "dancing" and extending its pec fin, the other whale had moved in front of the videographer and appeared to try and whack him with its fluke. The two whales had very different personalities.

Paul

[paulmila]

Hi Sandy,

As I said in my scuba buddy email to you, we couldn't always tell where the sound was coming from or which whale was making noise, but the deep tones went through your chest.

Being next to such huge, powerful creatures was very humbling.

Paul

[deeph20inlv]

Looking to do this trip can you give me details on who to book with and time of year.

Fantasic vid. deeph20inlv got a few of my own on yotube

[hmj211]

Was that a mother and calf? A pregnant whale and escort?

[BLACKOUT17923]

well thanks for that in a bombshell haha :)

[Derekoarmy]

Had four swim past last year while freedivnig in Western Australia. They never made a peep which was just as well. I wondered if they ever showed aggression. Doesn't appear to be any on the video. Thanks for posting the footage.

[rdljdjd]

Thank you for the great video!