Dear <<First Name>>,
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CRUISE REPORT
Humpback Whales of the Silver Bank
February 4-10, 2017
Vol. 9, Issue 3
Welcome back to another edition of our 2017 Cruise Reports, coming to you from the Sanctuary for the Marine Mammals of the Dominican Republic. We are now into our third week this year here on the Silver Bank and it was a fun one for many reasons, foremost among them the very enthusiastic and excited group of guests who joined us.
 
With representatives from the United States, Switzerland, Italy and Canada, they came from a wide range of backgrounds, but each shared a keen desire to experience the humpback whales on the highest level. Expectations were high and the group's collective energy elevated that of our crew, pictured on the right, even higher.
The sunset on our first evening on the Silver Bank gave a big hint of things to come. As regular readers of our Cruise Reports know, every sunset is an opportunity to see a green flash at sunset when atmospheric conditions are right, which happens on a regular basis out here. And while everyone spends the last minutes of the day waiting and watching, there is always the faint hope of seeing or photographing a breaching whale in front of the setting sun. Once every few years it happens and this was one such an occasion!
And then there was indeed a green flash! Now my next goal will be to see and photograph a whale breaching in front of a green flash; that just may happen once in this life of mine!
The next day, February 6, offered a hearty helping of the whale action the group was waiting for. First we watched a happy breaching calf for a while before one of our fellow operators invited us to join some excitement already in progress, an adult female dancing with two escorts.
The female was noteworthy because she was almost entirely black and had distinctive notching in the trailing edge of her dorsal. And because she was very sociable!
After nearly an hour the party broke up a bit, but not the fun, as two of the whales then set off on one of the best displays of pectoral fin slapping we'd seen in a long while, going at it for almost another hour with encouragement from our guests. Inspired, a few of our guests had to give it a try for themselves.
 
 
The day was capped off by another green flash ....
....and a brilliant ¾ moon.
For a little variety later in the trip we made a stop by the wreck of the freighter, Polyxeni. There is always a lot to see around the wreck but at this time of year one of the highlights are the male magnificent frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens), showing their impressive red throat pouches inflated as part of their courtship displays.
One handsome fellow seemed to be sending his Valentine's Day greeting a little bit early!
It had been a great week thus far but the humpback whales set us up for a Silver Bank classic on the last day. With clear skies and settling seas we set out this morning when one of the crew quickly spotted a mother and calf resting in the reef just a few hundred yards from the mooring. Before much longer we were in the water with the pair, and we would end up sharing each other's company for most of the day.
This big, old momma was just as relaxed and comfortable as they get, rising up to the surface every ten minutes, floating at the surface right in front of us for five minutes while she breathed, just to settle right back down again.
 
It gave all our swimmers an extended opportunity to watch the heartwarming nurturing between a mother and her baby and to look both mother and calf in the eye.
Later in the day we were more than happy to repay the favor our fellow operator gave us earlier in the week and we called them over to join these whales after we decided to head off on a different search: to look and listen for a singer. Angling further out onto the bank, we intended to move a mile or so before dropping the hydrophone into the water for a listen. We didn't get that far before spotting a single whale humping up for a resting dive. Single whales are often males (females usually have an escort), and singers are almost always single males. Could this be our singer? Ready to gamble on the chance, I quickly suited up and slipped into the water. Now, here is the thing with a singer. If you are close, you will know it is a singer the second your head hits the water because the song is so powerful it can shake your bones. So, as I swam out from the boat I knew right away this whale was not what we were looking for as there was not a sound to be heard. But when I picked my head up to inform the group I was met by the sight of everyone frantically gesturing, pointing behind me. Spinning around, I was confronted by four feet of rostrum, the enormous snout of a whale, sticking out of the water just a dozen feet away in a beautiful spyhop! And it was quickly joined by another! This was not a singer we'd found, but was in fact that same playful female with the notched dorsal from earlier in the week.
But this time she had a new dancing partner, and so for the last ninety minutes of the last afternoon of the week all of our swimmers got the exhilarating opportunity to experience one of the most intimate interactions we've had. The two whales circled, spyhopped, floating vertically, twisted and rolled, showing us their bellies as they looked at us with both eyes, swimming all around and between us. They swam from boat to boat as we swapped swimmers in and out, they swam in front, below and behind - an amazing interaction.
And so ended another excellent week in one of the most special places on the planet. We are honored to spend time out here and thank all those who join us in the water or read our updates. We look forward to sharing our adventures from Week 4 with you this time next week. Please stay tuned!
Thanks for reading,
Capt. Gene Flipse
Join us next year on the Silver Bank
We are taking reservations for 2018 and spaces are filling fast. Please see our schedule and costs and get in touch if you would like to experience the magic of the Silver Bank yourself.
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