A legend from the north, far away from here, claims that whales breach because at one point in their past a killer whale fell in love with an osprey. That theory seems as good as any for scientists still don't agree on one plausible explanation for why a multi-ton animal launches itself from the sea, dances an aerial spiral dance and creates a plume that can be seen miles away. Some claim these massive mammals are shaking barnacles from their skin. Some say they are orienting themselves with the land or looking to see just what is around. Others claim it is purely for fun or simply because they can. But today we witnessed behavior that might give credence to the theory that they do it to communicate.

Over and over, for hours on end, humpback whales propelled themselves skyward. Our heads were on pivots as splash after splash, from horizon to horizon created a visual roar. When they were close to our vessel, full bodies could be seen. A mother and calf lay together crashing their pectoral flippers and thrashing tail stocks and flukes. Five or more times a pair of adults rocketed from the sea, so close we could see their ventral pleats and rostrums ornamented with lumpy "stove-bolt" hair follicles. They were joined by a third in an unusual performance of a "triple breach."

Humpback whales are famous for their intricate and repeated "songs especially on the breeding grounds where we now are. Our hydrophone team, far from the ship in a zodiac, listened and listened but no vocalizations were heard. For at least this afternoon, it seemed that body language was the communication mode of choice with the message conveyed in a much more forceful way to our eyes, than any clicks, squeaks or songs the whales might also use.