Wildlife Wednesday - whales

Whale at Ningaloo

OMG, have you seen Helene Young's whales? Here's a link to one of the videos on YouTube. If you check out her name, you should be able to find the others - and they're on Facebook if you follow her there.

Not only does she write fabulous books, she does great photography, videography and blog posts on travel!

Hervey Bay has now moved up on my To Do List. And I don't think I could be like Helene and Graham and just watch. I'd have to chuck on my snorkel and mask and slip into the water.

I've had the pleasure of being in the water twice with whales (by chance both times) and I don't think I appreciated the moment enough.

The first time I'd surfaced from a dive at Jervis Bay, NSW, and one of the guys yelled that a whale just went by us. I caught the end of the tail. It made me laugh because those things are huge, and I'd been underwater right near it, and I hadn't seen/felt a thing! How was that even possible!?!?!? But they travel quite quickly, and if I was looking the other way, I wouldn't have even noticed, unless it hit me! :)

The second time was at Ningaloo Reef, near Exmouth, WA, where we'd jumped in the water to swim with whale sharks. The whale sharks were on strike, but a humpback swam right by us. I had my camera, but I was so in awe I forgot to take any photos. When I did, the murky water made the distant whale just a blur. But once again, if I hadn't been looking in the exact right spot at the exact right time, I'd have had no idea that such a creature was ten metres from me.

And that's what does my head in. Whales are enormous. Yet the ocean is more so. You can share the space so easily, without knowing each other is there. And whales are so incredible with their water presence and swimming ability, I think they could probably sneak up beside me and tap my on the shoulder before I even felt their presence!

Have you had a close encounter with a whale?