Sperm Whale Diving Trip Report 2023

Dominica Island, Caribbean
March 25 - April 4, 2023
Trip # 4/2023

March 26, 2023 - Day One, and it turned out to be a really good day. We found sperm whales. I have been worried about that because there is a film crew here trying to put cameras on the whales, and they freaking hate it. So they have been avoiding their boat and sometimes the area because they do not want to deal with it. Frustrating, but it is what it is. I am sure they have a good reason for doing it, and if they accomplish their goal, it should be great TV. But the whales hate it.

We went out and searched around for a while, and finally, we found a pod of whales. They allowed us to get a few drops with them, but the passes were short and sweet. One of the whales was young, and she would pass the group, swim off, then turn around and swim back by the snorkelers. She kept a healthy distance the second time she passed, but it was still so cool to see her do that. 

We encountered four or five different whales, which was great, especially since this is day one, and getting a few drops in is always nice. It gets rid of that pressure of hoping your guests see a whale.

Towards the end of the day, one-half of our group dropped in for a pass with a whale - after the whale passed, they were climbing back in the boat, and our friend Thomas Hayes, yelled out, "hey, there is a whitetip shark under the boat."

Not quite believing him, we laughed it off, asking him if he was sure he saw one. He said yes, he was sure, looked down, popped his head up, and said, "it's right here!"

I was already on the dive platform, kitted up and ready to jump in with the whale on the next pass. So I jumped in right away, and sure enough, there was a beautiful little oceanic whitetip under the boat. He was about 5 feet long and such a good-looking shark. Oceanics have white freckles on their over-exaggerated fins that are tipped with white color on their brown skin. This guy was extra freckled up and it was beautiful.

We all enjoyed a 45-minute session with this shark. He was a typical oceanic and came in aggressively at first, checking us all out. Trying to bump the divers and cameras to see if it was anything he could eat. 

After he was satisfied that we were not edible, he relaxed and swam around us over and over.

It was so much fun.

The light and the water were popping, with a very friendly shark… I am pretty sure we were all able to capture something unique from this session. 

The best part of the experience was Kevin, our whale guide. He is terrified of sharks. But after watching us all in the water, he decided to get brave and jump in to experience it for himself.

HE FREAKING LOVED IT!

He followed the shark around and recorded GoPro footage of it. It was so awesome to watch. I was very proud of him. Then, I followed Kevin around, trying to capture images of him with the shark. Conquering his fear and swimming with one of the baddest / coolest sharks on the planet was a big deal for him and me.

It was a hell of a way to end our first day in the water.

March 27, 2023 - Day Two. A really good day. We found the Utensil’s pod, which was so good, as they are Dominica’s friendliest whales. We had a lot of close passes, and our friends had a great time. That makes me so happy that they had a special day. 

Now the next four days are going to be pure enjoyment. Whatever happens, happens. I am happy they are happy. We did have a lot of cloud cover today, so the sun was going in and out, making photography a bit challenging. So we had to bump up our ISO from 640 to 1250, which makes for challenging photography.

That is part of it. 

Another challenge was a few additional boats. Damn, did it suck. There were a couple of cruise ships visiting the island, so the tourists always come out to see the whales, which is good. You want people interested in seeing the wildlife. But they are limited to only two hours in the water, so there is always a race to try and see a whale. The boat operators race around, trying to give their guests the best close-up view. It adds some stress to the animals. 

When we find a whale, we get far ahead of the animal and try to quietly drop in and wait for the animal to swim by us. The boat will drop us off and then move out of the way to avoid disturbing the animal. 

This is why friendly pods of whales are the best. The whales sense we are there and will purposely swim in our direction to have a look, which is the best. 

However, when the whale-watching boats are there, they try to get close to the whales and will sometimes cause them to drop back down to the depths much sooner than they would have.

It can be frustrating.

But I get it.

If I was on one of those boats, I would definitely be begging the captain to try and get closer. And then be jealous as hell of the guys getting in the water with the whales, wishing it was me.

But despite the additional boat traffic, it was a really good day out there. Already fired up about tomorrow.

March 28, 2023 - Day Three - This was a decent day at sea. We found whales pretty early and nearby, but the film crew was around doing their camera tagging, and the whales were weary of them doing this and tried avoiding their boat. Of course, the film crew had a show to make, and they needed their footage, and they were running out of time. I think they are leaving in a day or two. 

We had a group of four whales, all swimming together, and slowly. We were trying to jump in with them, and they were very tolerant of us. It looked like we might finally get some socializing and possibly sleeping whales, but the film crew came in, trying to tag them, and the whales dropped quickly.

We didn’t see them for the rest of the day.

That was frustrating.

When the whales dropped, the film crew left the area to try and find whales without any other boats around, thankfully. 

After that, we found more whales. We tried to jump in with a solitary whale, but she was tagged with a camera and was not very happy, so we did not get much of an opportunity to swim with her. 

Eventually, she just avoided us. Every time the boat tried to get ahead of her to position us for a jump, she would turn, so we decided to back off and leave her alone. We want to enjoy the whales, and we want the whales to have a positive experience with us. 

So when the whales show signs that they do not want to be around us, we will leave them alone and try to find other whales to swim with. 

March 29, 2023 - Day Four -  Today was a fun and long day. By long, I mean we spent a lot of time jumping in and out of the water. Very short encounters, but a lot of them. We found the whales quickly, and it was game on after that. They are so much fun.

Sadly we did have to share our whales with a few other boats. One boat was running his trips illegally (no permits). He was reported, so hopefully, someone will put a stop to that. Overall the guests had a great time with the whales, and so did I. 

All the images we are capturing are getting better and better as we all get more familiar with what we are doing each day, and they are getting better at understanding the ever-changing light. That is the hardest part about this type of photography: natural light. We do not use strobes on the whales because it is wrong, and thankfully it is also illegal. But it just means we have to work harder to get into the correct position for a chance to photograph these whales properly. Often their eyes get shadowed, and you want to capture them in your image. 

Today was thankfully the last day for the film crew.  The whales recognize the sound of the boat they were using and they would change their behavior as soon as that boat was around. Hopefully the whales will relax a bit now that they are gone.

Also, surprisingly we have yet to see any other whales (pilot and any beaked whales). Just the sperm whales are around, which is fine - I am just surprised. We still have two more days to go, and I am fired up about what we might encounter. 

March 30, 2023 - Day five - It was a good day. We did not get many jumps, but the jumps we got were excellent. So far, all the encounters have been fly-byes—no socializing whales.

We did have one juvenile sperm whale that played and rolled around for us a bit, which is always special. But we all want more of that, a lot more. I really want our guests to experience that behavior, because it truly is special.

The film crew has a bit to do with the whales' behavior this week. They are acting squirrely. Our captain told us a story of how after one of the whales was tagged with the camera, it proceeded to breach over and over again, to try and remove the camera. They do not like them.

But despite no great socializing behavior for our guests, they are having a great time. I get so stressed sometimes, but I always remind myself this is nature, and the animals are going to do what the animals are going to do. I just need to enjoy the trip for what it is. My guests are having great encounters, and that is all I can ask for. They are having fun. I need to remember that and enjoy it with them.

Tomorrow is our last day… can't wait!

March 31, 2023 - Day Six. The final day of diving was good. We had a lot of jumps, and a lot of opportunities to photograph the whales. We did not the greatest light for images but it did not matter, the action was so worth it.

Again it was all fly byes, and our big baby that rolled and played with us, days before was rolling again. I love that behavior so much. 

Dominica is such a special place. The people are great, the island is beautiful and the whale action here is some of the best in the world. Sadly this is our final day on the island and I am off and onto the next adventure. But thankfully we already got our permit for next season so we will definitely be back for more of these magic moments.

Thanks again to our beautiful friends who joined us this season… until the next one.