Scuba Jim
Contributor
Right you lot, I have finally got my scanner back
.
So I am gonna do this in stages, so I dont bog the system down with all my waffle .
PART I: A WHALE OF A TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
21 hours of travel gets you from London to Tahiti via LAX. Yuk.
Firstly I went to Rurutu in the Austral Archipelago, 400 miles south of Tahiti itself. It was my first taste of FP so I had nothing to compare it with, but I really liked the place, even with the benefit of hindsight. It was very laid back, very traditional and not at all commercial. Dramatic cliffs dropped into the sea or a narrow surf zone that protected the island from the large ocean swells. The west side, where I stayed, was calmer, with nice long rollers crashing on the reef. The east side was choppier and windier. The tops of the mountains were covered in pine forest and the island was dotted with caves.
There's dinosaurs in dem dere caves
Also, Rurutu is cheap by Tahiti standards. There are no mega resorts here, so accommodation is about $50/night. Its not luxurious, but it is a great place to kick back. I stayed at Pension Ariana, on the NW coast. V basic accommodation, but a fab setting with nice beach and a pretty garden full of fruit trees waiting to be plucked. Food was OK except for breakfast, which was French bread and jam every morning. Oh, how I yearned for an om e let! Coffee was good though, and grown on the island.
La Plage d'Omelette
I went to Rurutu to snorkel with the humpbacks that go there from July to October to give birth and wean their calves before the long journey to the Antarctic. If I was a humpback calf I would kick up a fuss. Why would you wanna go and freeze your butt off in the Antarctic when you can relax in the comparative warmth of Rurutu?
I was in Rurutu for 4 nights, and did 5 sessions with the whales. Each session was 3 hours in duration. Morning sessions from 9-12 and afternoon from 2-5. The boat was basic and open, but raincoats and thicker wet suits were provided for those who did not have their own. I had a 3mm polartec lycra suity thing and a 2mm vest. This was not sufficient as I found out to my cost on first jumping in. The water was what I would describe as Spanner Water (The Americans amongst you will probably not know what a spanner is you call them wrenches.) Spanner Water? I hear you ask. It tightens your nuts. (Think about it!) Anyway the water was cool, to say the least. Low 70s I expect.
Anyway, I digress. On their annual migration the humpbacks come north from the Antarctic to Rurutu, where the waters are calmer, and comparatively free from predators. Here they can calve in relative safety, giving their offspring a fighting chance before the long journey south to Antarctica.
Land Ahoy!
The humpbacks usually stay for about 4-6 weeks after calving. The mothers do not feed for the duration of their stay in Rurutu, and as they are suckling their young, they need to rest up during the day to conserve energy. The mothers sleep on the sand and coral covered seafloor, often in only 80 or 100ft of water. They sleep for perhaps 30 minutes, their eyes open, so they are aware of their surroundings and the safety of their calf. The calf can only hold its breath for perhaps 5-8 minutes, and must therefore return to the surface for air. While at the bottom with their mother they nestle under her body for protection, and return to the surface for air. Being young, intelligent and inquisitive, they come up to the snorkellers, checking you ought through eyes that show vast expression. You know this is no dumb animal! My final day in Rurutu brought my best encounter a mother asleep, floating above the coral seabed, just off shore from Avera Village on the east coast. Her calf was hiding under her chin,
Oh by the hairs on my chinny chin chin
and came up to breath on a number of occasions. On one occasion the mother woke and came to the surface with her calf to breath, and then descended again to sleep. The calf continued to pop up to the surface and on one occasion swam straight past me, no more than 2 or 3ft away.
Who are you looking at?
A marvellous experience!
You will also often see bulls breaching showing off to each other and prospective females, they launch themselves up out of the water, only their tails remaining submerged. They then flop back into the water with a mighty splash, the sound cracking loudly through the air. I was fortunate enough to see two large bulls, 40ft & 50ft in length, performing for over 2 hours in the bay off Moerai, on the north west coast of the island.
Splish splash, splishaty splash
You will see whales on almost every snorkelling session, but this does not guarantee you will get in the water with them; if the mother is travelling across the bay she will be moving too fast for an in water encounter. This is not, as you can appreciate, an exact science. You can also spot them from the shore, either just coming to the surface to breath or doing a full breach.
This is a spectacular location to see humpbacks. Its those magic moments in your life that you remember the best, and looking into the eye of a baby humpback as it swims past my nose is a memory I will cherish for ever (God, Im making myself feel sick. Pull yourself together, man!)
Well, thats the first part of my journey over with.
Coming soon to a Scubaboard near you!
The next enthralling installment of Jims Adventures in the South Seas!
Episode II: Ye Maidene Voyage of the Goode Shippe Tahiti Aggressor
Stay tooned!
So I am gonna do this in stages, so I dont bog the system down with all my waffle .
PART I: A WHALE OF A TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
21 hours of travel gets you from London to Tahiti via LAX. Yuk.
Firstly I went to Rurutu in the Austral Archipelago, 400 miles south of Tahiti itself. It was my first taste of FP so I had nothing to compare it with, but I really liked the place, even with the benefit of hindsight. It was very laid back, very traditional and not at all commercial. Dramatic cliffs dropped into the sea or a narrow surf zone that protected the island from the large ocean swells. The west side, where I stayed, was calmer, with nice long rollers crashing on the reef. The east side was choppier and windier. The tops of the mountains were covered in pine forest and the island was dotted with caves.
There's dinosaurs in dem dere caves
Also, Rurutu is cheap by Tahiti standards. There are no mega resorts here, so accommodation is about $50/night. Its not luxurious, but it is a great place to kick back. I stayed at Pension Ariana, on the NW coast. V basic accommodation, but a fab setting with nice beach and a pretty garden full of fruit trees waiting to be plucked. Food was OK except for breakfast, which was French bread and jam every morning. Oh, how I yearned for an om e let! Coffee was good though, and grown on the island.
La Plage d'Omelette
I went to Rurutu to snorkel with the humpbacks that go there from July to October to give birth and wean their calves before the long journey to the Antarctic. If I was a humpback calf I would kick up a fuss. Why would you wanna go and freeze your butt off in the Antarctic when you can relax in the comparative warmth of Rurutu?
I was in Rurutu for 4 nights, and did 5 sessions with the whales. Each session was 3 hours in duration. Morning sessions from 9-12 and afternoon from 2-5. The boat was basic and open, but raincoats and thicker wet suits were provided for those who did not have their own. I had a 3mm polartec lycra suity thing and a 2mm vest. This was not sufficient as I found out to my cost on first jumping in. The water was what I would describe as Spanner Water (The Americans amongst you will probably not know what a spanner is you call them wrenches.) Spanner Water? I hear you ask. It tightens your nuts. (Think about it!) Anyway the water was cool, to say the least. Low 70s I expect.
Anyway, I digress. On their annual migration the humpbacks come north from the Antarctic to Rurutu, where the waters are calmer, and comparatively free from predators. Here they can calve in relative safety, giving their offspring a fighting chance before the long journey south to Antarctica.
Land Ahoy!
The humpbacks usually stay for about 4-6 weeks after calving. The mothers do not feed for the duration of their stay in Rurutu, and as they are suckling their young, they need to rest up during the day to conserve energy. The mothers sleep on the sand and coral covered seafloor, often in only 80 or 100ft of water. They sleep for perhaps 30 minutes, their eyes open, so they are aware of their surroundings and the safety of their calf. The calf can only hold its breath for perhaps 5-8 minutes, and must therefore return to the surface for air. While at the bottom with their mother they nestle under her body for protection, and return to the surface for air. Being young, intelligent and inquisitive, they come up to the snorkellers, checking you ought through eyes that show vast expression. You know this is no dumb animal! My final day in Rurutu brought my best encounter a mother asleep, floating above the coral seabed, just off shore from Avera Village on the east coast. Her calf was hiding under her chin,
Oh by the hairs on my chinny chin chin
and came up to breath on a number of occasions. On one occasion the mother woke and came to the surface with her calf to breath, and then descended again to sleep. The calf continued to pop up to the surface and on one occasion swam straight past me, no more than 2 or 3ft away.
Who are you looking at?
A marvellous experience!
You will also often see bulls breaching showing off to each other and prospective females, they launch themselves up out of the water, only their tails remaining submerged. They then flop back into the water with a mighty splash, the sound cracking loudly through the air. I was fortunate enough to see two large bulls, 40ft & 50ft in length, performing for over 2 hours in the bay off Moerai, on the north west coast of the island.
Splish splash, splishaty splash
You will see whales on almost every snorkelling session, but this does not guarantee you will get in the water with them; if the mother is travelling across the bay she will be moving too fast for an in water encounter. This is not, as you can appreciate, an exact science. You can also spot them from the shore, either just coming to the surface to breath or doing a full breach.
This is a spectacular location to see humpbacks. Its those magic moments in your life that you remember the best, and looking into the eye of a baby humpback as it swims past my nose is a memory I will cherish for ever (God, Im making myself feel sick. Pull yourself together, man!)
Well, thats the first part of my journey over with.
Coming soon to a Scubaboard near you!
The next enthralling installment of Jims Adventures in the South Seas!
Episode II: Ye Maidene Voyage of the Goode Shippe Tahiti Aggressor
Stay tooned!
