Our wildlife experiences haven’t been limited to penguins. The humpbacks have been visiting us often, showing off their tails and general awesomeness.
I didn’t realize how huge they are — can get up to 50 feet. And how did I come to really appreciate their size? Because we had many unheard-of up-close-and-personal experiences. Yup. The Expedition Guides told us so many times during our trip that they hadn’t seen anything like it that we eventually believed them.
Here’s what I mean.
On our first zodiac ride a couple humpbacks were swimming near by. As per the IAATA guidelines we were keeping a distance as we admired their grace.
And then they got closer . . .
And then took our breath away as they swam toward us, gently nudged the zodiac, swam underneath us upside down so they could suss us out (that’s why you see white), and then blew some more air. O my. I didn’t know how beautiful whales sounded when they did their air blows. It was . . . UNBELIEVABLE!
But wait. There’s more. Much more.
Another group had a whale swim right beside their zodiac later that day when we visited a bay of ice bergs.
And for the coup-de-grace, later on in the expedition when I had my turn to kayak we had an otherworldly experience.
There were three humpbacks sleeping . . . they do the same unihemispheric thing that penguins do because, unlike humans, they have to use their brains to breathe.
So we’re just watching them, enjoying the experience. And then . . . they move, and swim, and one of them breaches maybe 15 feet in front of us. UNBELIEVABLE!
Even more amazing? Some guy on our ship with a fancy camera just so happened to be watching us at that exact moment and captured the whole thing.
This really happened. I got to experience it. Wow. And no, I wasn’t scared any of these times. It felt magical, like these huge animals were connecting with us.
Join in with me here – UNBELIEVABLE!
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