Our last day started slow and we were covering a lot of water. Visibility in the water wasn't great. Finally we spotted our first whale breaching on the horizon. The frequency of sightings really started to click. Our best chance of a good encounter was to find a mother with calf. The young ones need to rest on a regular basis, so they move slow. The young ones are also very curious as well. We were getting some good photos, but again the whales were not hanging around. 

   Our time on the water was coming to an end. One last chance as we headed around the north end of Salt Cay island. Yes... a mother and mature calf. In the water we went and we found the mother resting on the sand below. The calf raised to the surface for air and then returned to mom. And then wow!... check out the youtube video and slide show below. Keep in mind the gopro and photos are wide angle.

   Cheeky little 18 foot bugger. His tail fin hit my head and mask as he swam by. Talk about a close encounter... I need to be careful what I ask for. This was soooooooooooo awesome!!!! 

   Needless to say I have a some nice reference material for a series of Humpback paintings and graphite pieces. 

   Next stop Tigers in India this April.... but maybe not such a close experience. I've got zoom lenses.

   Safe travels, Edward.

   We were joined on the boat today by 2 whale researchers. This added to our experience as they shared their expertise. Our day started with a great encounter with 2 bottlenose dolphins. They seemed curious and playful, so we slipped into the water and had a 15 minute swim around with them. What a great experience. We've been on dives before with dolphins, but not this up close and personal.

   Today brought more whales... 19 to be exact. We saw more mothers and calves, mature males and females, and an intense chase scenario with a female and 3 males. It is breeding time for the whales around Turks & Caicos, so there is a lot of testosterone in the water. The males are showing off for the females...singing, breaching and fighting... kinda like a night at the pub.  

 We tried getting into the water with a few, but none of them wanted to hang around.They are just taunting us. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to see these amazing creatures above or below, but we still haven't had the close range encounter I am hoping for. Maybe tomorrow.

Over the next few days we'll be patrolling the small islands around Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos,  looking for Humpback whales. The past few days our diving off Provo turned up no whales.... bummer... whales singing in the distance, but no whales visually. We did see black tip reef sharks, sting rays, turtles and more , buuttttt........

  

The next day....   we had our first encounter with Humpbacks... a mother, a first year calf and escort. The calf is 6-8 weeks. The escort is a male, maybe the father, who is showing the mum he is a good protector and defender for her young one. He will stay by her side as long as she accepts him. Mum is about  35 ft long....crazzzyyyy.  And that`s  approx. a 14-15 ft baby....

Later in the day we had the privilege of seeing a 2 day old newborn being raised to the surface repeatedly, minute after minute, by the mothers nose to instigate the breathing process...amazing. She will stay down here for 6-8 weeks to allow her little one to mature for the journey north to their summer feeding areas.

Tomorrow...more intense searching...

Over the past few very cold months in this neck of the woods (Niagara Ontario Canada) record temps have seen a few more feathery visitors than normal. I've been very fortunate to search for and find a few of them. One female snowy and a few different short ear owls have given me a couple new inspirations.

What's amazing is we travel half way across the world to see incredible things. Sometimes we forget there are incredible things in our own backyard.  Next stop Humpback Whales Turks and Caicos here we come.  Enjoy and safe travels,

 Regards. Edward