A Whale of a Trip

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I haven’t bothered you in quite a while, and for that, you are welcome.

The main reason you have been left in peace is that I’ve been busy living my extended life, making the most of it, thanks to my bronor, Leason Pomeroy, IV. One of the most gigantic checkmarks on my Buttkick List happened recently when my family took a trip to Tahiti, where we swam with humpback whales. This was not a trip to Tahiti where we happened to run across a whale and jumped in with it for a quick thrill. This was a trip to Tahiti where the main purpose was swimming with humpback whales. This was a trip to Tahiti where we swam with humpback whales for eight days. This was a trip to Tahiti where our experiences with humpback whales blew our minds.

When the Moorea humpbacks venture north from Antarctica during the southern hemisphere’s winter/spring, they return to their birthing grounds to rest, mate (not sure how those two go together) and give birth. Rest assured, there were humping humpback jokes tossed about our mature group of whale swimmers. Over our eight days in the 86 degree South Pacific with these majestic beings, we witnessed indescribably awesome sights, thanks to water visibility over 150 feet. These highly intelligent creatures are friendly and curious, sometimes coming to within five feet of us. I don’t know how to properly describe that experience in words.

The most thrilling encounter came on day three of our adventure. The eight of us (our family plus a doctor from Hungary and a couple from England) were in the water, with a slowly surfacing whale, just like many before. All of a sudden, this humpy decided to have a little whale fun with us, gave a couple extra pumps of her ginormous tail, came almost completely out of the water, and breached within what felt like inches of us. These astounding 80,000 pounders knew exactly where we were in the water, so it breached to the port side. If it decided to breach to the starboard, you wouldn’t be wasting your valuable time reading another of my posts.

We were convinced our captain and whale whisperer, Maire Temau’u, has some DNA belonging to the cetacean genus. He not only found whale after whale, he was one of them in the water. As if an old friend, the whales would swim over to him, and imitate his gesture. One actually gave him a high five.

For a wildlife encounter, this is a contender for top of the list, and to experience it with my nearest and dearest was beyond joyous. I’m so lucky in so many ways. And I remind myself each and every day.