I absolutely love the seas and have always been fascinated by this beautiful mammal called whale. Some of them are the oldest species on this Earth and they have been around much longer than we have. I have always been in awe when watching these magnificent creatures on documentaries and it is my dream to watch, swim, snorkel or dive with them some day.
Chasing Dream….
The months of May to July offers an unusual and magical event in the waters along the Ribbon reefs in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef - the migration of the dwarf minke whales into this region and regularly approaching close to boats and snorkellers. Dwarf minke whales were first recognized and described as a unique species of whale in the mid 1980s and there is still little known about them. They are classified as the second smallest of the baleen whales and feed on lantern fish, krill and crustaceans. Although they are termed “Dwarf”, a fully developed adult can still reach approximately 8 meters in length and weigh up to five tons. The dwarf minke whale (Scientific name: Balaenoptera acutorostrata – acutorostrata means 'sharp snouted') has the most complex color pattern of any baleen whale; and has a characteristic white band on each fin that contrasts with a very dark grey tip on the flipper; these markings are as individual as fingerprints. Most dwarf minke whales also have a scattering of circular scars on their bodies; believe to be caused by the vicious deep-sea cookie cutter sharks taking a mouthful of the blubber.
Refer to link: Minkw Whale Biology for detailed biology information.
On Friday the 13th June 2008, I boarded an overnight 7.5 hours Qantas flight from Singapore to Brisbane and then connecting onto another 2 hours Qantas flight to Cairns for what I excitedly hoped would be my first whale watching dive trip. In search of both adventure and scientific observation, I was booked on a week dwarf minke whale expedition on board the Undersea Explorer from June 14th to 20th. Upon arriving at Cairns airport, I boarded a pre-arranged bus to the local marina in Port Douglas, where our ship was docked. I embarked the boat at 4.30pm and was met by Qamar, the dive supervisor; who checked my C-cards/Nitrox certification, asked about my dive experience and most recent dives, filled up some forms, told to set-up my equipments and assigned my cabin.
The Undersea Explorer is a 25-meter sturdy steel vessel used for research in the area of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Fully air-conditioned, she can accommodates up to 20 guests, 5 crew and 2 researchers. The boat is well laid out with roomy queen and bunk style cabins on the main deck and hull; and 5-shared bathrooms. The salon/dining and kitchen area is located on the main deck and there is a biologist/lecture room for talks/group discussions and slide/video presentations. There is a general covered top deck with a lot of room to stretch out, for donning on wetsuits, whale watching and is the only place on the boat where smoking is allowed. The dive deck is pretty small area and entry to the water is via a large hydraulic dive platform. Each diver was allocated a tank pod and a crate for mask, fins and any other gears, to be shared by two divers. There are 3 camera rinse tanks, one large and 2 smaller ones.
The meals were buffet style, always enticing and plentiful. Usually, we will have a pre-dive light breakfast consisting of toast, cereals, fresh fruit and juice at 7.30am, and then a heavy breakfast consisting of bacons, eggs, tomatoes and more toast after the first dive. Lunch was usually served at 1.30pm, consisting of assorted salads, cold cuts and breads. Muffins and homemade pastries for afternoon tea. Dinner consisted of roast lamb, steak or chicken, corn, carrots, mashed potatoes and assorted salads will be served at 8pm after night dive and then the absolutely not to be missed (or should I say to die for) desserts from Tony, which we usually had in the biologist room during slide/video presentations by the researchers/biologists. A wide variety of drinks, including two kinds of beer were permanently available in the refrigerator. Tea, coffee, Milo and different types of cookies were also available throughout the week. Each person was provided with a complimentary water bottle and we were encouraged to stay hydrated.
Once the other guests have embarked and were all settled in, we were briefed on boat and safety rules. One very important rule is to make sure that you’re sign-in whenever there is a scheduled dive or any entry into the water. We were also introduced to the crew – David (skipper), Sean (engineer), Tony (cook), Qamar (dive supervisor), Gabriel (marine biologist and DM), Kerri-Ann (volunteer instructor) and Leoni (volunteer hostess). We had 3 minke whale researchers on board - Susan, Arnold and Jessica. The passengers were an interesting and fun loving mix from different countries: Helen (nurse from Cairns) - the “can’t get enough” minke whale enthusiast who was on her 3rd trip this year; Leoni (artist from the Blue Mountains) - who listed seeing whale in her bucket list; Kinza from Seattle - Qamar’s lovely mum; Torsten from Germany - my dive buddy, a marine conservationist, who absolutely love the clown fishes; Ian and Rachel - the father and daughter team; Fabio and Cristina from Italy, “Doug” and Laurel from Florida; Paul and Eric from Perth; Andre and Eveline - the underwater photographer from Netherlands and his ever trusty dive buddy cum model; Kevin and Mark from USA - the former is a outstanding wildlife photographer and the latter is a zoologist and is also a award winning writer/wildlife photographer with numerous publications. From them, I have gathered many information regarding where to see gray, blue, beluga whales etc, etc and have included them into my next dream destinations.
We left Port Douglas after dinner and steamed out to the Ribbon reefs overnight. There were some tossing and turnings but compared to Cocos, the 7 hours crossing was considered smooth and pleasant for our trip. It was Sunday and day two of the trip, and now that we’ve moved to the northern ribbon reefs where dwarf minkes are most often present. After a light breakfast, Qamar gave us a detailed dive briefing and then Susan walked us through the “Dos & Don’ts” of the Minke guidelines before our first dive. We were all eagerly waiting for the first minke to show up but it’s appears that Sunday is minkes’ off day accordingly to Helen and sure enough, we did not have any sighting. Sign L.
Dive Trip Itinerary and Minke Scoreboard
Day 2 (Sun, 15th Jun) 0 minke 3 day dives and night dive
Day 3 (Mon, 16th Jun) 8 minkes (~3 hrs) 1 day dive and night dive
Day 4 (Tues, 17th Jun) 8 minkes (~1.5 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 5 (Wednes, 18th Jun) 15 minkes (~4 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 6 (Thurs, 19th Jun) 4 minkes (~1.5 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 7 (Friday, 20th Jun) 0 minke 1 day dive
Minke Here, Minke There…
What makes the swimming with minkes unique is that the whales actively seek out the boat/ snorkellers and hang around for hours. The minke encounters are very clearly regulated by a code of practice and professionally handled. As soon as a minke is sighted, the boat is to throttle back to no wake speed. If the minke approaches the boat, then Susan will be first in the water and a towline, measuring about 50 meters with deflated inner tubes for a maximum of 6 snorkellers, is put in the water near the stern of the boat. She will swim to the furthest end of the line, usually reserved for the researchers and monitor the situation before giving the go ahead signal for the guests to join in. The second towline can then be put in near the bow.
What is important to understand is it is the minkes that initiate the contact. We found that there was no best position on the line. The minkes were keen to approach and eyeball all of us regardless of our spot. To avoid startling a surfacing minke, the space between the two drift lines is a no swim zone and snorkellers are told to get in/out of the water gently to avoid splashing and to remain close to the hull of the boat. Snorkellers are told to lie flat on the surface, avoid all rapid movements while in the water and must not swim towards the whale. No flash photography is allowed and strictly no touching or any physical contact with the whale.
The Minkes Highs - Breathtaking and Mind-blowing Moments
During this trip I had many incredible encounters. Curious minkes approaching me as close as my arm’s length and checking me out, apparently as inquisitive as I was with them. Sometimes, one would just swim by me so slowly, almost stop, and take a good look with its exposed eye. I really see eye to eye with the whales!
I calculated a total time of 10 hours in water interaction with the minkes and I hit the scoreboard at 35 minkes. Wednesday was our best day with about 15 whale sightings and I’ve counted 7 at one passing. Wow! The researchers recorded a total of 42 different individuals and a total interaction time of more than 20 hours. Wow! Wow!!
Beside the extremely close encounters, I witnessed few amazing behaviors from the minkes: Headrise and spyhopping, belly presenting, speed-up and also saw 10 breaches from the deck. On one occasion, a 5-meter whale approached within one to two meters, rolled on its side and presented its white belly at me before diving straight into the blue. This behavior is called belly presentation and it happened almost too quickly. I was screaming out for joy through my snorkel and at the same time, tried to photograph this performance but the shutter just wouldn’t click. Damn! I had encountered a few more of these acts but they were further away and I also had not much luck with the shutter lack on my camera. On another encounter, a 3.5-meter juvenile swam close to me and presented its full head out of the water. For a few seconds, I was making eye contact with little fellow and he seemed to be also checking me out. Sweet. Very sweet indeed. This behavior, called a “spyhop” is commonly thought to indicate the whales are actually looking at activities on the surface.
A very cool component of the total minke experience is listening to them communicate. Mostly they produce a series of pig-like grunts moans and belches, but sometimes a lucky listener will hear the minkes' answer to the Star Wars theme: three rapid pulses and a longer trailing note. Arnold has attached a hydrophone into the water from the boat at the space between the two drift lines and we can listen the vocalizations through the headphones in the skipper room.
Most of our encounters ended because the boat wanted to leave. On my last encounter, as I was swimming slowly back to boat, the three minkes that had been with us followed me back seemingly as curious about me and I was about them. I wondered what they were thinking. To me it felt like the whale was saying, “So where are you guys leaving, don’t leave us; please come back to play with us?” I only wished that I could stay longer! It’s addictive.
The Undersea Explorer has an outstanding Dwarf Minke Whale educational program with lectures, videos, and briefings to insure that all guests are properly informed about both whale behavior and proper etiquette while in the water with the whales. Every guest on board is helping fund the project and is part of the exciting research.. After each day’s encounter guests are asked to complete a brief questionnaire designed to assess both whale behavior and their responses to the direct contact with humans. We can also help by contributing copies of our photographs or video to the identification database.
Chasing Dream….
The months of May to July offers an unusual and magical event in the waters along the Ribbon reefs in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef - the migration of the dwarf minke whales into this region and regularly approaching close to boats and snorkellers. Dwarf minke whales were first recognized and described as a unique species of whale in the mid 1980s and there is still little known about them. They are classified as the second smallest of the baleen whales and feed on lantern fish, krill and crustaceans. Although they are termed “Dwarf”, a fully developed adult can still reach approximately 8 meters in length and weigh up to five tons. The dwarf minke whale (Scientific name: Balaenoptera acutorostrata – acutorostrata means 'sharp snouted') has the most complex color pattern of any baleen whale; and has a characteristic white band on each fin that contrasts with a very dark grey tip on the flipper; these markings are as individual as fingerprints. Most dwarf minke whales also have a scattering of circular scars on their bodies; believe to be caused by the vicious deep-sea cookie cutter sharks taking a mouthful of the blubber.
Refer to link: Minkw Whale Biology for detailed biology information.
On Friday the 13th June 2008, I boarded an overnight 7.5 hours Qantas flight from Singapore to Brisbane and then connecting onto another 2 hours Qantas flight to Cairns for what I excitedly hoped would be my first whale watching dive trip. In search of both adventure and scientific observation, I was booked on a week dwarf minke whale expedition on board the Undersea Explorer from June 14th to 20th. Upon arriving at Cairns airport, I boarded a pre-arranged bus to the local marina in Port Douglas, where our ship was docked. I embarked the boat at 4.30pm and was met by Qamar, the dive supervisor; who checked my C-cards/Nitrox certification, asked about my dive experience and most recent dives, filled up some forms, told to set-up my equipments and assigned my cabin.
The Undersea Explorer is a 25-meter sturdy steel vessel used for research in the area of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Fully air-conditioned, she can accommodates up to 20 guests, 5 crew and 2 researchers. The boat is well laid out with roomy queen and bunk style cabins on the main deck and hull; and 5-shared bathrooms. The salon/dining and kitchen area is located on the main deck and there is a biologist/lecture room for talks/group discussions and slide/video presentations. There is a general covered top deck with a lot of room to stretch out, for donning on wetsuits, whale watching and is the only place on the boat where smoking is allowed. The dive deck is pretty small area and entry to the water is via a large hydraulic dive platform. Each diver was allocated a tank pod and a crate for mask, fins and any other gears, to be shared by two divers. There are 3 camera rinse tanks, one large and 2 smaller ones.
The meals were buffet style, always enticing and plentiful. Usually, we will have a pre-dive light breakfast consisting of toast, cereals, fresh fruit and juice at 7.30am, and then a heavy breakfast consisting of bacons, eggs, tomatoes and more toast after the first dive. Lunch was usually served at 1.30pm, consisting of assorted salads, cold cuts and breads. Muffins and homemade pastries for afternoon tea. Dinner consisted of roast lamb, steak or chicken, corn, carrots, mashed potatoes and assorted salads will be served at 8pm after night dive and then the absolutely not to be missed (or should I say to die for) desserts from Tony, which we usually had in the biologist room during slide/video presentations by the researchers/biologists. A wide variety of drinks, including two kinds of beer were permanently available in the refrigerator. Tea, coffee, Milo and different types of cookies were also available throughout the week. Each person was provided with a complimentary water bottle and we were encouraged to stay hydrated.
Once the other guests have embarked and were all settled in, we were briefed on boat and safety rules. One very important rule is to make sure that you’re sign-in whenever there is a scheduled dive or any entry into the water. We were also introduced to the crew – David (skipper), Sean (engineer), Tony (cook), Qamar (dive supervisor), Gabriel (marine biologist and DM), Kerri-Ann (volunteer instructor) and Leoni (volunteer hostess). We had 3 minke whale researchers on board - Susan, Arnold and Jessica. The passengers were an interesting and fun loving mix from different countries: Helen (nurse from Cairns) - the “can’t get enough” minke whale enthusiast who was on her 3rd trip this year; Leoni (artist from the Blue Mountains) - who listed seeing whale in her bucket list; Kinza from Seattle - Qamar’s lovely mum; Torsten from Germany - my dive buddy, a marine conservationist, who absolutely love the clown fishes; Ian and Rachel - the father and daughter team; Fabio and Cristina from Italy, “Doug” and Laurel from Florida; Paul and Eric from Perth; Andre and Eveline - the underwater photographer from Netherlands and his ever trusty dive buddy cum model; Kevin and Mark from USA - the former is a outstanding wildlife photographer and the latter is a zoologist and is also a award winning writer/wildlife photographer with numerous publications. From them, I have gathered many information regarding where to see gray, blue, beluga whales etc, etc and have included them into my next dream destinations.
We left Port Douglas after dinner and steamed out to the Ribbon reefs overnight. There were some tossing and turnings but compared to Cocos, the 7 hours crossing was considered smooth and pleasant for our trip. It was Sunday and day two of the trip, and now that we’ve moved to the northern ribbon reefs where dwarf minkes are most often present. After a light breakfast, Qamar gave us a detailed dive briefing and then Susan walked us through the “Dos & Don’ts” of the Minke guidelines before our first dive. We were all eagerly waiting for the first minke to show up but it’s appears that Sunday is minkes’ off day accordingly to Helen and sure enough, we did not have any sighting. Sign L.
Dive Trip Itinerary and Minke Scoreboard
Day 2 (Sun, 15th Jun) 0 minke 3 day dives and night dive
Day 3 (Mon, 16th Jun) 8 minkes (~3 hrs) 1 day dive and night dive
Day 4 (Tues, 17th Jun) 8 minkes (~1.5 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 5 (Wednes, 18th Jun) 15 minkes (~4 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 6 (Thurs, 19th Jun) 4 minkes (~1.5 hrs) 2 day dives and night dive
Day 7 (Friday, 20th Jun) 0 minke 1 day dive
Minke Here, Minke There…
What makes the swimming with minkes unique is that the whales actively seek out the boat/ snorkellers and hang around for hours. The minke encounters are very clearly regulated by a code of practice and professionally handled. As soon as a minke is sighted, the boat is to throttle back to no wake speed. If the minke approaches the boat, then Susan will be first in the water and a towline, measuring about 50 meters with deflated inner tubes for a maximum of 6 snorkellers, is put in the water near the stern of the boat. She will swim to the furthest end of the line, usually reserved for the researchers and monitor the situation before giving the go ahead signal for the guests to join in. The second towline can then be put in near the bow.
What is important to understand is it is the minkes that initiate the contact. We found that there was no best position on the line. The minkes were keen to approach and eyeball all of us regardless of our spot. To avoid startling a surfacing minke, the space between the two drift lines is a no swim zone and snorkellers are told to get in/out of the water gently to avoid splashing and to remain close to the hull of the boat. Snorkellers are told to lie flat on the surface, avoid all rapid movements while in the water and must not swim towards the whale. No flash photography is allowed and strictly no touching or any physical contact with the whale.
The Minkes Highs - Breathtaking and Mind-blowing Moments
During this trip I had many incredible encounters. Curious minkes approaching me as close as my arm’s length and checking me out, apparently as inquisitive as I was with them. Sometimes, one would just swim by me so slowly, almost stop, and take a good look with its exposed eye. I really see eye to eye with the whales!
I calculated a total time of 10 hours in water interaction with the minkes and I hit the scoreboard at 35 minkes. Wednesday was our best day with about 15 whale sightings and I’ve counted 7 at one passing. Wow! The researchers recorded a total of 42 different individuals and a total interaction time of more than 20 hours. Wow! Wow!!
Beside the extremely close encounters, I witnessed few amazing behaviors from the minkes: Headrise and spyhopping, belly presenting, speed-up and also saw 10 breaches from the deck. On one occasion, a 5-meter whale approached within one to two meters, rolled on its side and presented its white belly at me before diving straight into the blue. This behavior is called belly presentation and it happened almost too quickly. I was screaming out for joy through my snorkel and at the same time, tried to photograph this performance but the shutter just wouldn’t click. Damn! I had encountered a few more of these acts but they were further away and I also had not much luck with the shutter lack on my camera. On another encounter, a 3.5-meter juvenile swam close to me and presented its full head out of the water. For a few seconds, I was making eye contact with little fellow and he seemed to be also checking me out. Sweet. Very sweet indeed. This behavior, called a “spyhop” is commonly thought to indicate the whales are actually looking at activities on the surface.
A very cool component of the total minke experience is listening to them communicate. Mostly they produce a series of pig-like grunts moans and belches, but sometimes a lucky listener will hear the minkes' answer to the Star Wars theme: three rapid pulses and a longer trailing note. Arnold has attached a hydrophone into the water from the boat at the space between the two drift lines and we can listen the vocalizations through the headphones in the skipper room.
Most of our encounters ended because the boat wanted to leave. On my last encounter, as I was swimming slowly back to boat, the three minkes that had been with us followed me back seemingly as curious about me and I was about them. I wondered what they were thinking. To me it felt like the whale was saying, “So where are you guys leaving, don’t leave us; please come back to play with us?” I only wished that I could stay longer! It’s addictive.
The Undersea Explorer has an outstanding Dwarf Minke Whale educational program with lectures, videos, and briefings to insure that all guests are properly informed about both whale behavior and proper etiquette while in the water with the whales. Every guest on board is helping fund the project and is part of the exciting research.. After each day’s encounter guests are asked to complete a brief questionnaire designed to assess both whale behavior and their responses to the direct contact with humans. We can also help by contributing copies of our photographs or video to the identification database.
Last edited:
