What have you seen underwater recently?

[Daryl Wong]

Hi Tyler,

I was an awesome experience. It is Illegal to approach whales and cannot go within a certain distance to them. We were anchored and doing blue water diving and the two whales came up to us and we put away our guns and I grabbed my camera. The two whales stayed under our boat for almost an hour. They would come within three feet of us and then turn back down only to return when they go t to the bottom 180ft down. I took the eye picture and the surface picture from about three feet away. THey never opened their mouths, but you could hear them squeaking and groaning in the water. When they would groan loud, you could feel the sound waves resonoance in your chest.
When you looked at the whale and it looked back at you, you could tell they are definitely of a higher intelligence and knew exactly where and what we were doing at all times.
Now that I have had that experience, I am even sadder now to think that they are being hunted along with other whales worldwide. Its almost as if we are hunting a cousin or distant relative, because that is basically what they are.
I know I will never forget this experience. I hope to write a short article on this soon.

Aloha, Daryl

 

[rigdvr]

:t Thats ok Daryl...hopefully Rick, Marcel and I will have some picture for you in a couple of weeks...and Im not talking about Mardi-Gras!

Those pictures never get old no matter how much I look at them...amazing.

 

[LioKai]

Daryl, you are living right.
Excellent photos. My wife and I agree with you when you say that your Humpback experience changes your life. Mahalo for sharing your very rare photos.
Matthew J D'Avella
Kona Hawaii

 

[flyboy748]

I dove in the sea (as opposed to the lakes here) for the first time on Saturday. I was in Key Largo, and I got out on the reef. I'd never seen coral except in pictures, never seen fish with any colour. What a great time! I had no idea what I've been missing!

Most notable was swimming alongside a stingray for 5 min or so. Nothing compared to the whales (a dream of mine too!) but still pretty cool to me.

Aaron

 

[tylerz]

Daryl,

Thanks for your wonderful description of your encounter. It filled in some blanks for me and I was going to ask you about if you heard the whales underwater, and there it was in your post! I am aware of the regulations concerning whales, which are the same or similar in these areas. However, just as yourself, I know a location which the whales like to frequent and they are quite curious about little beings frolicking in the water. So I hazard to guess that one day they will come and check me out!

Aaron,

Don't you think it is time you move to Vancouver now that you understand what you have been missing!? Glad you had a great time and were impaled with the passion of the ocean! I have always been exploring the view slightly under the surface of the ocean, but it really gripped me a few years ago, when I encouraged my body to follow along just behind my eyesight.

Cheers

 

[flyboy748]

Tyler,
It's definatly time for me to move somewhere like that! I'd love to be in Vancouver for awhile, and I think my wife wouldn't mind either! I'll try to get out for a bit this summer. Maybe for a portion of the Worlds or something.

In the meantime, I'm not complaining! The freshwater diving here is some of the best anywhere with the wrecks and all. Some awesome vis in Tobermory, not too far away, and Lake Ont. has so many chemicals in it that it never freezes over so I can dive all winter! It's pretty cold though...

Hawaii would be nice too... I'll see if I can follow Bill's example!

Aaron

 

[SASpearo]

Just had to do this

On my last dive (two weeks ago) I saw the following ....

Around 8 or 9 Whale sharks, 6 Manta Rays, big GT's, some Cuda, a lonely Wahoo, a sailfish (limit of viz, around 40m away), and a cornucopia of reef fish.

Shot one Cuda (15Kg's) for dinner, took a shot at what I thought was a 50Kg Giant Trevally 8 meters away and have my spear not even touvh it ... must have been one of those 'Bus' GT's that we see every so often up in Moz, around 70Kg's 20 meters or so away. Ask anyone who has had a shot at these things, you always end up underestimating the range and the size, falling way short .... Was an awesome sight though .....

Didn't see too much the the rest of the week, some nice 'hoo, one guy had a shot at a black marlin (fell short) and took some nice doggies in the 8 - 20Kg range.

Going again mid-march .... anyone up for it?

 

[mishu1984]

my girlfriend naked...

 

[OceanSwimmer]

...seen today...

Hopped in at Boomer's and saw 2 spearos, many Garibaldis, fast-growing kelp, eelgrass, sea lettuce, a surprised scubadiver ('What are you doing way out here, lady?') and 3 fishermen each w/kayaks. Oh, and another swimmer who got skinned up on the reef during his exit: he was okay and enjoyed the water just the same.

Recently...like last month: a sea lion dove under me and swiveled his head to keep me in his sights while he swam. What a clown!

Didn't hear any croaking....yet! Water temp had to be 60F. No wetsuit, thanks.....

 

[Roan]

OceanSwimmer
First croak you hear... give me a PM! hehehe

 

[OceanSwimmer]

....did someone say, OceanSwimmer?

Originally posted by Roan
OceanSwimmer
First croak you hear... give me a PM! hehehe

You got it, Roan!!! Now I'm on a mission! :martial

 

[kenten]

this sunday while searching the cracks along the coast i saw some sand raising from a crack. when closed i saw a murray hunting an octopus. murray bite one leg , other legs was wrapped around murray' head.
after less than one min. of struggle octopus freed itself leaving one leg behind

 

[Alison]

Those Whale picture are just wonderfull! What an experience that must have been. Simply the best of all!

 

[OceanSwimmer]

seen last Sunday....

....Off Boomer's again: a soupfin shark watching us from the bottom. He kept following, the inquisitive devil. Estimated size: about 6'.