Silver Bank is a 10 by 20 mile limestone plateau 70 miles north of the coast of the Dominican Republic. It is surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean waters which are thousands of feet deep, and rises to 60 to 100 feet or shallower, providing a calving and breeding area, and natural playground/habitat for the beautiful North Atlantic Humpback whale.The Dominican Republic named the area to be a Sanctuary for Marine Mammals by decree in July 1996.
We are here to snorkel and frolic in awe of these elegant cetaceans from surface tenders in small groups, to capture images and marvel at their animated interaction , breeding and calving, and singing their haunting whale songs.Our guides note that only the males are singers, and no one has ever seen a humpback mother giving birth.
I return to travel on Sun Dancer II , the live aboard I first dived on in Palau in 2001.We set out at 11Pm across the deep blue to arrive at the Sanctuary by dawn.Rough weather was predicted but I found the passage to be fairly calm with no unpleasant bouncing about in our cabin. This is my first snorkeling trip with my housed D90 camera, cumbersome in the water but able to capture what I hope to be great images for my collection.
Our first day was not promising. We geared up and did a test snorkel around 1:30PM, after a lunch of Chef Jerry's wonderful spaghetti bolognaise. A brisk wind picked up and we bobbed around in our small crowded tender, watching for signs of whales in the immediate vicinity. We did spot a few trails of spray, and saw white flukes and pectoral fins flapping in the distance.
A mother with calf and escort passed near us. The whales submerged to rest, and we slipped into the water to observe them from the surface. The visibility was poor and a large cloud passed to block the sun, but as it passed I took a couple of images of the mother as she rolled on her side exposing her white belly and pectoral.After 3 more long hours in the tender of wind, spray and swells, a squall blew in and forced us back to the Sun Dancer. We all hope the next day brings better conditions, sunshine and more whales.
Unfortunately the next day Monday was a complete BUST.There were no whales to swim with. Another squall brewed on the horizon , waterspouts weaving on the ocean swells and crossing in the clouds. A beautiful rainbow arced across the steely backdrop of the storm. After our return to the boat whales surfaced and converged around us, cavorting and fin slapping to taunt us.
Tuesday Feb 28 dawned and we had whales at last!!! Again the day broke with ominous skies, dark clouds carried a storm over the choppy water . The tenders bounced up and down along side Sun dancerII, like horses champing at the bit to run free after whales in the surrounding shallow area. Our first encounter was out in the swells with two adults. The male and female went through four breath cycles of sounding and then submerging to rest about 25 feet down. We were able to have an hour and half long swim.The whales floated asleep near the reef bottom, smaller fishes preening and cleaning them along their flanks and around their faces. As they rose slowly and took off I was finally able to get some shots. The camera was very unwieldy in the rough water and it was a challenge to swim in the crowded group.
We saw a pair of dancers glide animately back and forth under the boat. That afternoon another adult pair approached us. They were in shallower water but visibility remained poor, as it was throughout the trip. I waited to shoot as the whales pirouetted gracefully to the surface.
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