| In August and September of 2009, three humpback whales arrived at Christmas Island much to the surprise of the local residents.
Christmas Island Tourism's Marketing Manager, Linda Cash, tells the story: I was off the Island working when the phone beeped – the SMS read "we got whales". That was it. Not whale sharks, which are our regular visitors, but whales...
I read it again – in shock.... Lynnie, my dive buddy has been diving around Christmas Island for 15 years and has seen it all, but when I finally got her on the phone she was bursting with excitement. Not just any old whales, humpback whales!
A week later, when I returned to the Island, they had of course moved on. But standing on my balcony overlooking the ocean a few days later I could barely believe my eyes as a huge fin broke the surface not 20 metres from shore. They were back... or they had just moved around the other side of the Island.
Either way, a quick call to our dive operator and he had the boat launched within 15 minutes. Off to the Chicken Farm we went, the dive site near where they were last seen, and yes, there was a juvenile still playing about 20 metres off the coast. The boat stayed at least 50 metres off where he was seen, and we donned our snorkel gear and jumped in...
A quick swim in the general direction with fingers and toes crossed, and then the baby humpback appeared, right underneath us, about four metres long, one circle around to eye each of us individually, and then a quick flick of the tail and it was off – but not before a few shots had been snapped. The smile on my face – well, its still there, and the view of that amazing creature gliding effortlessly below us will remain with me forever.
Diving on Christmas Island can be very special. We don't get events like that very often, but these waters never fail to throw up some sort of surprise at least once or twice every year. Just a week ago the humpbacks were seen again and and on the same dive a sunfish appeared. 2009 has been amazing though – it's not long since we saw our first ever seahorse. Last year, it our first cluster of ornate ghost pipefish. I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring.
Images: courtesy of Linda and Phil Cash
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