And the Whales are back!

We all woke up with a buzzing anticipation for our first marine outing. After full preparation early morning, lugging the equipment down to the boat, Bardan, a safety radio contact back to base and we were ready to go! All four of us in dedicated research, standing as tall as we could reach, poised to view our first dolphin of the day.


Within twenty minutes or so, "Dolphin!" shouted Ellena. One? Two? Three! Travelling? Feeding? Resting! And bow riding! Snap, snap, snap... It was Sergi on his camera collecting dorsal fin photos. Then, a Green turtle clear as day, popped his head and "casa" out of the water to see what all the comotion was about-Wow! We filled out the data survey sheets and settled down.

But our day couldn't get any better. We were just getting into our peanut butter and jam sandwiches, when "WWoo Wo!" shouted Shafii, the boat captain. Heart beats racing, boat full steam ahead... Through the binoculars, something big and black! Two magnificent humpback whales, mother (measuring about 15 meters) and calf resting peacefully in the deep blue. Off we raced and met the mighty diamonds a few moments latter, near Tanzania waters. The sea was so calm we could hear the blows very clear... music to our ears!

The blow of the adult Humpback whale

It is GVI's fourth sighting of Humpback Whales over the past 3 months and we can't wait for the next one.

Mother and Calf resting and detail of the adult Humpback Whale dorsal fin

And the Whales are back!