Dominique is our dedicated boat captain. He is also the Mayor of Avera! 

Traveling on the boats of the local fishermen, we come upon the whales around 10:30 A.M.  We are elated to see a very robust mom with a baby whale.

Motoring slowly, Dominique brings our boat right alongside the deeply submerged pair. Having known the whales all of his life, Dominique is able to see them in the deep, dark water below.  He is able to determine their whereabouts based on his lifetime knowledge of the whales, their behavior and activity in these sub-tropical Pacific waters.  At one time the local captains were the Whalers, now they appreciate the magnificent beauty of the whales and their arrival, heralding Spring as they migrate from Antarctica.  Since the islanders now import food via cargo ships from the larger islands, the idea of harming a whale is unthinkable. The innate and intuitive ability of these local men in relation to these Humpback whales is what brings me back to Polynesia year after year.

 

 

Moving away and keeping a distance, we wait to see if the whales will surface. It is not long before they surface nearby.  From years of swimming with whales I relate what I am observing……  the baby is not a newborn- its color is darkening already, there is no escort whale, they are not swimming away, the mother is allowing the baby to view our boat, she is keeping the baby between herself and the boat, the mother whale seems comfortable with our presence, the baby is breathing every 7-10 minutes, the mom whale is letting the baby surface alone close to our boat while she rests below.

 

 

As the whales slowly dip down into the water to cool their sun warmed backs, we wait for instructions from Dominique regarding when to enter the ocean.  He does not speak English and instead makes motions to us. Now he is signing us to pull our snorkel masks down over our eyes, in ready position.  

And now he is calling out: Allez!!  Allez!!  (Go!! Go!!)

Sitting on the back of the boat, the five of us tumble into the water trying not to splash too much. We don’t hesitate. When Dominique sees the whale, it is the best time to enter the water. In we slide! Attempting to move away from the boat, swim fins wrapped around each other, masks flooding with water, the waves from the boat bumping us together. Amidst all of that, we quickly look down.  As millions of tiny bubbles clear, we can see the whale floating quietly, beneath us. We all ease into position for a better view of this serene and magnificent whale and her little one.  We are like pieces of seaweed floating on the surface to them; a mere drifting of flotsam in the immense ocean world.

 

 

The vision of the whale pair seems to pass in slow motion as we observe from above. The sweet little baby (12 feet long) looks at us as she moves from beneath her mom to the top of mom’s head. 

Then they begin to steadily move ahead. I am pleased to see the swimmers adhering to our whale etiquette, which is:  When all you can see ahead of you is their departing tail, STOP swimming.   Everyone stops. 

 

 

The whales slowly move away from us, fluking with their tails; but they soon turn around and come back.

During one of these many swim-bys, I enjoy the most wonderful contact of the week.

Being last to enter the water, I suddenly see the huge female whale and her inquisitive baby swimming directly towards me.

Marveling at the fluid beauty of their massive graceful bodies, I enter their slip stream easing myself close to them.  Surprisingly, they slow to a stop alongside me, and I realize I no longer need to kick my fins. I am next to them, quiet, starring into the serene, soft brown eye of the mother.  Suspending all movement, we gaze deeply at each other. I see the sparkle in her eye.

Floating on the surface, it is an infinite, endless moment.  My mask-protected eyes look into her unblinking, sensitive eye and a message of deep understanding passes between us….. beyond  words.

In that timeless moment I receive her love and merge with her heartbeat, experiencing a vast communication of holographic information that by-passes the mental and enters the place of deep knowing, of empathic wisdom.  With that transmission I am changed.  (There is a “Sea-Change”.)

Soon after, the baby whale swims from below her mom, to on top of her mom, initiating eye contact! Momentarily I connect eye to eye with the little one and am now held within the love and trust of both of them.

 

 

There is no one else around.  How can that be? Where is everyone? I am alone in the blue ocean with them.

At some point, seeming like an eternity in time, I notice that the Mom has begun slowly moving ahead.  She paces herself to my slowly kicking legs and fins. 

Moving subtly, so as not to break our eye contact, she stays alongside me. We swim together.  I am mesmerized…. Emotions rise up. A lump in my throat, my heart expanding as if it will burst, so much Love…….

 

Other members of my group are behind, swimming quickly, catching up to us.  The whales and I begin to accelerate together, maintaining eye contact.  I find it easy to remain in her slip stream as we swim as One.  A never-ending expanding eon in time….an ancient and loving relationship, a memory from our past in the oceans of the multiverse.

As more swimmers from all the boats begin to surround and by-pass me, I regretfully and slowly, release the thinning stream of light connecting me to the whale’s eye. She accelerates her immense form, pushing down her powerful tail and making her exit.

I remain spellbound in the water, still surrounded by her cocoon of Love. Barely breathing, holding, holding the refined waves of universal harmony that enclose me; bringing supreme comfort, peace and gratitude ……… Complete fulfillment in every cell of my body and in every particle of radiant Light.

Tranquility and Beauty embrace me.  I am HOME! 

 

 

 

 

 

That night, as we sat in circle on the beach to talk about our experiences with the whales, we found that each one of us on the boat had had a similar close encounter. We were all alone with the Mom and baby…… An encounter in a bubble of love within their essence and in the absence of anything and anyone else…..exquisite moments of unconditional love shared with the Humpback whales.