SIX HUMPBACKS AFTER ONE BREACHING
Time and space disappears when seeing a powerful humpback whale shoot itself up through the surface of the sea. Almost the whole body is visible before gravity grabs it, the whale turns on its way down and a giant splash takes over. It is probably one of the most amazing things you can see - but why do they do it?
Our guide Sarah experienced something the other day that proved one of the theories:
Although there is a lot of research going on it is still not known for sure why whales as humpbacks do breach. There are many theories trying to explain this extraordinary behavior; one says it might be used for communication with other whales, showing its position to other humpbacks around and since water is an excellent transmitter of sounds it can be heard kilometers away.
The other day I experienced something really amazing, just representing this theory. We went out on our 16:45 trip on board Sylvía and while we were still going out we could see a humpback breaching not too far away. Then we noticed it was not only us approaching this one humpback; Shortly after the whale had breached, about five humpbacks which were around started swimming towards that whale too.
The moment we arrived two of the other humpbacks showed up next to the one we were watching. They swam together before the next deep dive. We did not have to wait long before another humpback couple appeared behind us, swimming towards us and the place where the others went down. There was no need to turn or move the boat. It seemed as if there were whales all around us.
Before we knew it all five humpbacks showed up swimming as close as possible, almost touching each other. They were breathing at exactly the same moment, swimming forwards, resting a bit and finally went down diving again. Then there was this sixth humpback coming from the other side, heading for this whole group of whales.
Could this amazing whale gathering possibly be an effect of this one individual's breaches…?
(SA/LIA)
This photo of a breaching humpback whale was taken by our guide Elin.
