The Rum Diary: Marques and Teal: Whales of the Society Islands

Moorea

The Society Islands are part of French Polynesia and contain some of the most sought after destinations in the world. They are made up of 14 islands, and of those 14, we spent time in Tahiti, Moorea, Maupiti, Huahine, Bora Bora, Raitea, and Taha’a. The islands are visually stunning, each with its own unique mountain composition, and all surrounded by calm turquoise lagoons filled with manta rays and sharks. The islands are lush and tropical, some with waterfalls cascading off the steep mountainsides. Activity wise, the islands have it all: hiking, snorkeling, diving, surfing, kiteboarding, nightlife, shopping for world famous Tahitian Black Pearls, seclusion, and best of all, swimming with humpback whales!

Swimming with humpback whales has always been a dream of mine and it happened not once, but three times during our time in the Society Islands. To this day I can say with confidence that it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.

The first experience was on a very sunny, calm morning. We had just left Tahiti for a three hour motor sail to Moorea. The channel of water between Tahiti and Moorea is notorious for humpback whales, and it wasn’t long into our sail that we spotted a group of three. It was a mom, baby and a male companion breaching and splashing around on the surface.

Three soon turned into five or six different whales as they often travel is small groups. The etiquette of viewing whales and swimming with whales can be tricky. It’s not right to chase after them. The whales have to invite you. It sounds silly, but it’s true. Luckily, we have someone onboard who works extensively on whale research in the Atlantic and has a lot of experience viewing whales. We watched the whales for nearly an hour before we decided it was safe to get in the water with them. When we jumped in the water, the whales were about 100 yards off the side of the boat. Nervously, we swam away from the safety of the boat, completely exposed and in 6,000 ft of water. It was a crazy mix of fear and excitement as the first whale came into view. It was the mother and baby coming right at us! My mind wanted me to turn around and swim away because she was approaching so close, but my body just froze. To my relief, she turned slightly and we watched the enormous and beautiful mother and calf gracefully swim by.

I began to swim after her, when I heard the underwater yelling of everyone behind me. I stopped to see what they were yelling about and realized that there was another humpback following behind her and another following underneath her. I’m glad they stopped me or else I would have gotten way too close for comfort.

The group of whales circled the boat a few times, and eventually lost interest in us and went on their way.

The second experience was hands down the best. We had just finished a dive on the outside of Maupiti’s lagoon, when we spotted a water spout near the stern of the tender. We quickly stopped and watched as a young humpback whale approached us only a few feet from the tender. Then the weirdest thing happened- the young humpback swam about 15 ft underneath the tender, and sat still. We waited for it to come back up, but it just stayed right underneath us.

That was when we decided to jump in the water with it. I’m so glad we did, because this whale, whom we named Willy, was so playful and such a show-off. He swam graceful circles around us, diving deep and coming up slowly showing us his beautiful belly.

He would swim away and soar out of the water, only to return to swim with us again. He swam so close to us we could touch him.

After a while we decided Willy was getting a little too comfortable with us, so for safety reasons, we decided to part ways. It wasn’t an easy goodbye for either of us, as Willy followed us in the tender for a few minutes before we sped away.

The third experience we had swimming with whales was off the coast of Huahine. There were so many whales that morning that we actually were not sure which group we would get to swim with. There were small groups in nearly every direction we looked. We slowed the boat down and waited to see if a group would approach us, and luckily a group of 3 adults did. These whales were not as playful as Willy was. They briefly danced and twisted around each other.

They came right up to the boat and spy-hopped those who were still onboard. It was fun to hear their song underwater as they were communicating with the other groups nearby. After a while they sat still in the water with their backs to us. I think they were giving us the cold shoulder…