The Blue World

‘You never forget the first time. Just a couple of minutes alongside a humpback coming to the surface of Stellwagen Bank – three bursts of breaths and a slow dive, lifting those distinctive tail flukes before disappearing into the deep - I was hooked. 

Somehow, I persuaded the birding tour company that I had led a handful of birdwatching holidays with, that they really should be taking people whalewatching too – within a year I was leading a group of Brits to New England for birds and whales. Colourful warblers a-plenty and giant fin whales  - there was no turning back.

Fast-forward and I’ve had the privilege to lead many excursions on the water. Sharing space with the largest animal on the planet; enjoying the gamut of displays from inquisitive humpbacks; surrounded by the boiling water from a superpod of oceanic dolphins; and on one occasion being almost part of a feeding frenzy of orcas. 

Each time on the water has been special, but perhaps the most intimate of times has been those rare forays beneath the surface, snorkelling with leviathans. It gets no better than watching the turquoise glow of a blue whale sink into the inky depths of the Sri Lankan abyss; or hearing and feeling the clicks from a group of sperm whales before they drop in sequence, like bombs, into the dark blue world.’