Swimming with the Whales

As I squeezed my toes into my flippers in preparation to slide off the edge of the boat my heart was beating with excitement and, to be honest, a little bit of fear. It was just me, the Pacific Ocean, and a couple of very large sea creatures, humpback whales, to be exact. As I floated facedown on the surface of the water two whales, a mother and her baby, floated under me with about a 30 ft distance between us. At that perspective they seemed huge, but so gentle and peaceful as they swam below me. After what felt to be five minutes of gazing in wonder (I lost all notion of time during this magical experience) the whales began to rise to the surface. Before I could even think to try to move out of the way two humpback whales were within 5 ft of me. As I was stunned in amazement I remember yelling to Sam, “Sammyyyyyyyy” with equal amounts of fear and excitement as the whales continued to swim around me. All it would have taken was a swift flick of their tale and I would have been lost to the sea forever. With our fate in the fins of the whales I thought to myself, if I die now I will truly die happy.

I could have floated their all day watching the whales move around me, but unfortunately the whales did not find us equally as fascinating. They decided to move on in their travel along the coast of ‘Eua at a speed much faster than we could have even attempted to match so it was time to get back on the boat. As I was climbing out of the water, Kiko (the whale whisperer) stretches out his hand to me and I exclaimed, “Kiko, miemei mate mei fiefie aupito!” I almost died from so much happiness. Kiko responded with laughter and playful Tongan banter. He told me the whale thought I was talavou (beautiful) and probably wanted to marry me. I like to think he was right. I told him he could leave me in the sea!

The amount of beauty and wonder I experienced that day is indescribable.  It is something that I will always remember. Being around those large creatures in the ocean that day reminded me that I am so small in comparison to the world. I gained a new perspective on life out there in the sea. Life is too short to waste it doing the same thing everyday. My heart yearns for adventure!

…and I have never wanted to be a mermaid more. 

 

 

"The wilderness isn't quite what I expected, it's wild"