Swimming with Humpback Whales in Okinawa

[shokwaav]

First some videos and photos.

 

 

[shokwaav]

Quote

 

 I went with Daisuke from Okinawa 39ers who I've joined for all my Okinawa trips.

 

I went for two days, and only managed to see the whales in the water on the 1st day. On the 2nd day, we only managed to see them on the boat, and couldn't see them when we went in the water.

 

For the 1st day, there were only the four of us + two guides, so it was quite comfortable under water.

The 2nd day, there were probably 9 of us + 3 guides, so it was a bit crowded.

 

Daisuke did emphasise no fin kicking, no free diving and no swimming towards the whales. However, on the 1st day, the calf got so close to some of us that they had to take evasive manoeuvres.

 

It also took us almost the entire morning (7am - 12pm) to see the first few whales from the boat, and then the next 1-2 hours to get in the sea to join them. 

 

The sea was quite choppy on both days without any breaks so sea sickness meds were a must. I still got seasick on day 2 and had to puke (I am quite susceptible to sea sickness though). Also, although the water temperature was fine with a 5mm wetsuit, when back on the ship the wind chill was quite severe. Probably a neoprene jacket to wear when back on board would have helped. 

 

Daisuke mentioned that February may be the busiest month during the season and he mentioned that sometimes there were up to 10(?!) boats per pod of whales, which sounds crazy. I was discussing with someone who had done the whale swim three times, and we were wondering whether the whale swim would be able to continue indefinitely. For the second day, there were three boats following the same pod of whales, and started to feel a bit like we were harassing the whales a bit too much.

 

 

Comment I posted on the showcase image, hopefully can help others who are interested.