Today had to be the most epic day yet.
we woke up early, got on the neighbors boat to head down the coast, past teahupoo (where the roads end). We were about 4 miles south of it where the lagoon ends too. the plan was to go down there since it was the neighbors day off from work (he's a professor). He was going to fish while we dove. Anyway, we get there and we have to navigate the lagoons around the island, on hard head winds in his tiny aluminum outboard board, with a arm control. I figured this was a decent boat for just cruzing around the lagoons. We get to the spot finally and then we chase the birds who are picking off fish from the top of the water. I guess this is also where big fish are picking off the smaller fish. he didn't catch anything, so we just drove down the reef to get to a spot to dive. the spot didn't have much fish, and had a crazy strong current that i could barely pass while holding my camera. There wasn't much fish there so we moved on to the next area. Along the way i spotted a shark. it was a smaller sized reef shark, which are not aggressive unless you surprise them or corner them to the point where the have to defend themselves. soon after that we found the next spot, which also didn't have much fish, so we moved on through the crazy wind to get to a new spot where he was going to fish. it took us about 15 mins to navigate our way through the coral heads. I think he hit bottom about 3-4 times, pretty scary. We got to the outside of the lagoon and then started down the ocean side of the lagoon. the swells were pretty big and I'm wondering if it is a good idea to be out there on such a small boat lol.
Next we got to the final snorkel spot. We parked there and I dove down to check out the fish. it was a really awesome cove that had white sand and a ton of coral. We saw all kinds of fish, even a clown fish chilling in soft coral!! a few actually. I remember seeing huge parrot fish, trigger fishm a big barracuda, trumpet fish, lots of colorful other fish too. even tiny clown fish as well. the barracuda was pretty nuts, those things have gnarly teeth. Mat and i dove pretty deep here and took pics and videos of stuff. we then jumped back in the boat and headed down to a pass opening to go to a new spot to fish.
Right as we got to the new spot mat says about how it would be cool to see more whales, and boom, we saw another whale and her baby. we quickly shut off the boat because we were on track to hit the baby if we didn't see it. they started to head away from us so we just sat there and drifted, we used the paddle to maneuver out of the pass into the ocean. we then sat there and just watched the whales for a while. soon though they got closer so we both jumped out and went in for a closer look underwater. this is where things got crazy. the mom and baby were close but not close enough to see them underwater. we could see them on top, so we knew how far away they are, but being so huge (50+ ft for a humpback female), they could flick their tail and run into you quick. so needless to say our adrenaline was pumping. We had no idea what the mom would do around her baby so we kept our distance and waited to see what would happen next. I saw the mom swim near us, and sort of just stare me down. i help my camera up and took shots, it was insane. I felt so small. the mom seemed to be helping the baby out with something, we kept seeing the baby hitting the surface and the moms head sticking up. They moved on and we jumped back in the boat still high on our rush. we just sat there and waited to see where they would resurface after their dive. we saw them resurface a ways away so we just chilled there and watched them from the surface. 10-15 mins in though they got really close! mat jumped in and was so close he could feel water flowing at him from their flippers or tail. the mom proped the baby up onto the surface, it looks like the baby needed help getting a breath of air. i didn't jump in at this point, i didn't want to scare them with a big splash, but also they were so close that i could watch from the top as well. I popped my camera in to the water and snapped some shots with my fish eye. it was life changing to say the least. mat was so stoked. he said he had been hoping to experience this for 15 years, ever since he moved here. from what I've heard getting to be right next to a humpback next to a boat is rare, but to be in theater and have them come up to you, that is even more rare, but then to also be next to a mother who is protecting and caring for her baby, its unheard of for the most part. after the mom pushed her baby to the surface they went for another dive and then they were gone just like that, into the deep blue water.
we all sat in the boat in disbelief about what we just saw, we couldn't believe it. the neighbor was freaked out being so close, probably more than matt or I was and we were in the water. just the night before i showed mat a video of a huge whale crashing into a sailboat after a big jump. so i think he was scared too pretty good. we didn't start the boat again for probably 15 minutes. we then got on our way and headed back home.
we quickly started editing pics and checking out what we got as soon as we returned. Mat rode his bike down to the store and bought us sandwiches while i worked on pics. We hung out and surfed the net for a while and finally i talked mat into going for a underwater running training session.
We left at about 5pm local time to head out across the lagoon to the spot where we stashed the big rocks. the spot was pretty clear but i think the angle of the sun made it not as clear as it could have been. i ran a few times, starting at sea level, running downhill about 90 feet, around a coral head, and then back up the hill to the top. the deepest point of the run is probable 35 feet or so. i added some pics of this. Mat and I also filmed each other doing this so hopefully i can make a video of this stuff.
after that we got home, chilled for a while and then walked down to the local "snack" aka restaurant to eat. we both had magi magi because they were out of tuna sashimi and possion cru. it was a pretty cool walk (mat doenst have a car, and he only has one bike) since it is a clear night and there are no clouds to be seen.
We helped a giant hermit crab get across the road so it wouldn't get run over. mat tried to pick it up but it wasn't having that. so then he used his shirt to grab it, and place it across the street. however the crab was not letting go of the shirt so i think he actually made a hole in it.
We also had a crab end up in the bathroom, not sure how he made it that far. I shoed him off, but he came back again two more times so i had to close the door.
these blog entries and the pic editing sure take up a lot of time. i'm glad I am doing them though so i can look back on this experience and relive it.
I'm going to try to do some star photography now, lets see what i can get.
seeya.
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