As our day started, we were heading to a place called "Gorda Banks", a group of sea mounts close to Los Cabos, right at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Before breakfast we had already spotted a cow and calf pair of humpback whales, they were swimming quite close to the ship, allowing us to have spectacular views. The weather conditions were perfect, calm seas and sunny blue sky. Expedition Leader Bette Lu Krause decided to drop a Zodiac in the water to be able to use our hydrophone away from the interfering noise of the ship's engines. A few hundred yards away from the ship, the hydrophone was dropped into the water. Singing. We were able to not only record, but also broadcast instantaneously for all of our guests to enjoy this unique experience of a singing male humpback.
Moments later the decision was made to send the Undersea Specialist - Iliana Ortega with our digital underwater camera, and a Naturalist - Larry Hobbs, into the water to attempt a close enough encounter to film them. As you can imagine the chance of this seemed impossible.
Meanwhile, Boatswain John Mitchell watched from the surface. The film team turned to ask if we could see where they were. At that moment they surfaced directly behind them - what seemed to be only a few feet away. "Right behind you", was yelled back to them. The whales circled, obviously interested in what had joined them in the water.
I began recording as I looked into green water. A few seconds later there they were, calf and mother floating one above the other. The calf's eye and my own met. My heart stopped. Less than a meter away, I knew that touching the baby's pectoral fin was a possibility. Not knowing if I would scare it, I hesitated. There we were, all of us looking at one another, I felt suspended in time.
