To explain this amazing event, have a read of what happened last year:
12 very excited divers and snorkellers boarded Undersea Explorer on our 6 night minke whale expedition to the Great Barrier Reef on 24-30 June 2006. For Dirk and myself it had been two years since we last came face to face with these fascinating creatures and we couldn’t wait for the boat to leave. Apparently, we are not the only minke enthusiasts. Though the season is quite short -from June to early August- we were still surprised to see familiar faces among our fellow passengers. On this trip we encountered Mark again, a diver whom we had first met on our very first Minke Whale safari on Undersea Explorer.
We left Port Douglas after dinner and steamed out to the Ribbon Reefs overnight. The minke whales were expecting us already; and the first sighting was announced at the crack of dawn before we even had time to sit down for breakfast. Everybody ran to the back deck, grabbed wetsuits and snorkel gear and jumped into the water. Undersea Explorer pioneered the least intrusive way of interacting with Minke whales by attaching long ropes to the boat for snorkellers to hold on to. While the boat idles in the waves trailing the passengers behind, the whales are free to approach as close as they dare and take a good look at us funny creatures in rubber suits lining up in 2 neat rows on the water surface.
Frequently, minke whales approach snorkellers within a few metres, however, they don’t seem to like divers’ bubbles, and usually they keep their distance from everybody on scuba. Dwarf minke whales grow to 4-8 metres/12-24ft and are more or less easily distinguishable through individual markings on their body. Some of them approach the boat numerous times during one season and return again the following years.
On some encounters, there were so many minkes swimming simultaneously below us, next to us and way off in the distance that we sometimes wished we had 3 pairs of eyes to take it all in. We felt like greeting old friends, and to see their intelligent and inquiring eyes acknowledging our presence at such close range was time and time again a truly thrilling experience. I had to ask myself who was studying whom on many occasions.
Here the bare statistics of our whale trip:
- 6 days at sea with daily minke whale sightings
- 64 individual minke whales counted
- 9 in-water interactions between snorkellers and minkes
- 12 exciting scuba dives on the best dive sites along the Ribbon Reefs
- 20 joyful passengers who all vowed to be back!
Want to be there this year? There are only limited spaces left, so send us a quick email
