February 5 – February 12, 2022 

Week Three of our 31st Season

This year Aquatic Adventures embarks on its 31st season of providing our guests the unique opportunity to encounter the North Atlantic humpback whales on their breeding and calving grounds, the Silver Bank. As the season unfolds, we’ll highlight some of the various encounters and experiences of our guests each week. We hope you enjoy following along!

A Silver Bank Week at a Glance

We start our day at 6 am. Banana bread, jam spreads and cold cereal available. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon brings even the heavy-eyed out of their slumber. The sun isn’t up yet but one by one guests start appearing from their rooms. At 7 am hot breakfast is served, it’s different every day. French toast? Waffles? Omelets? What will it be today? Jo, the chef, is busy inside the galley, ready to prepare your breakfast however you’d like. The Aquatics crew buzzes about the boat getting snacks prepared for the day while taking notice of whale blows reflected in the sunrise. When 8:30 am rolls around it’s time for the first tender to take off. “LUCKY COOKIES!” shouts one of the crew members, “todays flavor, oatmeal and cranberry”. Jo has baked us fresh cookies for our day’s outing. Time to look for whales. 

Blows are everywhere. Across the horizon, in and among the coral heads, even beside the Turks & Caicos Explorer II. We look to the tender Captain to choose which whales will be most cooperative and head towards them. The ocean 90 miles off shore is quiet all but for the sound of the waves slapping the sides of the boat, our engines, the wind rushing by and the chit chat of excited guests. The beating sun warms us as the winds are keeping us cool. Ocean spray lays a fine layer of salt over the boat, licking your lips you can taste it. “BLOW, 2 o’clock”. A mother and calf with an escort weaving their way through the coral, the dark blues of the deep water and aqua colors of the shallow areas mixed with glowing pectorals of humpback whales is like a watercolor in action. The tender slows and we slip into the water just as the whales swim by, the captain calls this a fly-by and we get the week’s first glimpse of the underwater life of a loving mother humpback whale traveling with calf. Beautiful and streamlined, they glide effortlessly by. 

The next few days all begin the same, the tenders Challenger and Escort leave at 8:30 am and we’re off to find some whales to have encounters with. Tom Conlin, Captain of Escort, is with a rowdy group. Whales surround the boat. One blows on the starboard side, another makes a bubble stream on the port side, a lunge breach just off the bow. The excitement of the rowdy group has us all standing and cheering them on as the condensation from their blows wash over the tender. Even Tom, who has seen this activity countless times before, is laughing to himself and exclaims “man, I love this!”.

At the same time Lorenzo, the captain of Challenger, is approaching a single whale. They see the blow from a few hundred feet away, on closer inspection the whale seems to be behaving a little differently. He sends a scout in the water and immediately the whale begins to twist and turn, it’s what we call a “Dancer”. The guests get some amazing footage while the whale lifts its fluke out of the water, spinning and dropping again. Then out of nowhere a small pod of pantropical spotted dolphins join in the fun. They circle the whale squeaking and squealing; the whale vocalizes back as they all dance together for a few moments. A unique encounter of two different species seemingly interacting with each other with no other purpose than what appears to be fun. Another fun surprise sighting of the week –  a breaching spotted eagle ray! 

The week was filled with amazing encounters but unfortunately it does need to come to a close. Before we know it our last day on the Silver Bank has arrived and with only a few hours left the week is topped off with a single singing whale. The vibrations of low pulses and high squeals make their way through the hull of the boat. Slipping into the water we see the singer pointed towards the ground but feel the indescribable sensations of the song’s vibrations through our bodies. The Silver Bank has tattooed sensory memories on each of our guests, whether it being the sight of a loving mother and calf traveling though crystal blue waters, the feeling of vibrations from the most dynamic song in the animal kingdom or the sounds of an open ocean filled with blows. Yet another amazing week on the Silver Bank.

The Aquatic Adventures team hopes that you are as inspired as we are to help sustain the humpback whale population. Through our partnership with the Center for Coastal Studies, we are helping to gain critical information on these charismatic creatures, and to seek ways to protect and preserve them. To find out more about this effort, join their mailing list or to make a donation, large or small, please visit: www.coastalstudies.org/aquaticadventures

We are proud to support SeaLegacy in their efforts to create powerful media to change the narrative around our world’s oceans. Their mission is to inspire the global community to protect our oceans. To learn more about SeaLegacy and help with this important mission, please visit: https://www.sealegacy.org

Thanks to all who have generously donated!

Learn more about Aquatic Adventures here.

Written by: Aquatic Adventures team member Gillian Morin
Edited by: Aquatic Adventures team member Heather Reser 

Images: Heather Reser and Howard Arndt