Twenty metres below us the pair just hung there on the bottom, motionless, a strange stillness in an ever moving ocean. A silhouette against the white sand, too far down to make out their detail, not so deep as to be hidden from our gaze. Almost as if they wanted our attention. It was their […]
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Jasmine and the Whale
‘Play with me’, the whale suggested as he circled the girl closer and closer. How do you play with a creature 400 times your diminutive frame? ‘Play with me’, the whale intoned with a soundless expression and an oh so gentle nudge. How do you not panic, how do you trust being pushed through the […]
Read MoreSwallows Cave
When ever I come across a cave, be it on the side of a cliff, deep in the ocean or perhaps somewhere right in the middle of those two worlds I wonder, ‘what lives in there?’ and feel an urgent need to explore. Swallows Cave, on the Island of Kapa, Vava’u, did not disappoint my […]
Read MoreTag Me
‘Tag me if you can!’, a school yard taunt remembered from long ago. Yet here we are again playing that game of dare, chase and tag on a scale un-imagined from a landlocked childhood. Who would have thought we would encounter Humpback whales both adept and eager to play our boyhood game. We’d swim away […]
Read MoreJust Check’n You Out
Sometimes I wonder just who was checking out who! No sooner had we arrived here and two large humpback whales appeared about 100m away. As soon as we realised they were heading straight for our boat there was a mad scramble for masks, fins and cameras. They came closer; 50m, 25m, 10m and then the […]
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