Close encounter of the whale kind

As a Marine Biologist that has travelled the world and spent many days out on the ocean watching different species of cetacean doing incredible behaviours I thought I had seen it all. How was I wrong! On the 27th of July 2013 I went out from Hervey Bay, Australia with Blue Dolphin Marine Tours (www.bluedolphintours.com.au) and had one of the best whale encounters of my life. The Humpback Whales were sooooooo friendly that other boats had to come in to take over  so they could get home in time, as they just wouldn't leave, so intent in playing with whom ever was around boat or whale. The best experience of my life :) 

Eye to Eye Encounters 2013

When Elding went to WhaleFest in 2011 we were introduced to John Rumney that has been running swim with minke whale trips for 18 years and pioneered the swim with Minke Whale experience in Queensland (www.marineencounters.com.au). Once watching the presentation we were hooked and planned our excursion over a year in advance to guarantee a place.  Once the time came and we were onboard the Undersea Explorer we found that we had picked a time when the weather was not at it's best, experiencing 30-40 knots each day but the Minke Whales seemed to love it as we were seeing them every day and even got in the water with them 3 of those days. In the end we saw 18-19 Minke Whales and 10 hours of interaction both in and out of the water. This is what I have to show for it...