March 2007

Silver Banks- Whale Trip Report
Let me start by saying that the Silver Banks Whale trip was one of the most absolutely fabulous trips that we have ever been on with Dive Addicts. The Silver Banks is located about 9 1/2 hours by boat North of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Out in the middle of nowhere, the Silver Banks is a shallow pinnacle reef area that each season serves as a birthing/breeding area for the North Atlantic Humpback Whales. Whales come from up North, give birth, breed again, and then several weeks later head back up North with their new borns to feed.

We spent a incredible, if not magical week watching, interacting and snorkeling with these highly intelligent animals. The full grown adults weigh in at about 40 tons and the calves are anywhere from 5-8 tons. Think of the adults as about 2-3 city buses, with the calves about the size of an average car! These amazing animals would entertain us all week long as we traveled around in two small zodiacs during the day, and then spent our meal times and night times on our Aggressor Fleet boat. The food was great, the company was great, and we had a spectacular week.

We learned an amazing amount of information about whale behavior, most of it up close and personal. We learned and observed spy hoping, where the whales would stick their heads out of the water to observer us, peck slapping where they would slap their 15 foot pectoral fins on the water to get our attention or the attention of other whales. Tale slapping where they would thrust their huge tail flukes way up in the air and smack their tales down real hard to get other whales attention, breaching where they would shoot their whole body almost completely out of the water and crash down, blows which is when they shoot water out of the blow hole and take a breath, bumping when the male whales competing for the attention of a female would smash into each other and the grand daddy of all whale behavior the "Valentine". The valentine is the most incredible behavior to observe. The female whale becomes vertical in the water column, sticks its pectoral fins out and then starts to slowly pirouette around in circles as a signal to the male whale that she is interested in some affection. Probably the most amazing sight of the trip was watching one of the crew members free dive down 30-40 feet and imitate the valentine action and watching the 40 ton female mimic the diver. It was truly one of the most magical things I have witnessed.

Another interesting behavior of the Humpbacks, it what's called "A Rowdy". This is basically where 3 or 4 males will compete with each other for the attention of a female. They ram each other, cut each other off, breach, flip out of the water, and basically act like teenage boys trying to impress the prom queen. It was absolutely amazing to be so close to the action and watch these monsters go at each other. Of course we witnessed this behavior from the safety of our zodiac and not while we were in the water!

The crew on the Aggressor were very knowledgeable and very professional in all of their dealings. I think that every Dive Addict on the trip came away with a new found appreciation for nature and specifically these mammoth, highly intelligent manuals. It was certainly the trip of a life time for everyone, and one that we will not soon forget.

BREACHING North Atlantic Humpback whale engaging in breaching behavior. The whales are pretty much the same as the ones that you see in Hawaii, except that the Atlantic versions have white pectoral fins and white markings on their belly and sometimes on the underside of their tale. The adults are approximately 40 tons, and the cavles are born at least 3 tons, and during the 6 weeks or so that they remain in the Silver Banks, they can grow to as big as 8 tons, feeding on their mother's milk.