TAHITI, PT. II

this was simply the most amazing moment of my life.

our first morning in Tahiti for a Billabong girls trip found us speeding across the channel in from Papeete to Moorea. Several miles off Moorea, we spotted Humpback whales and dropped the boat into idle, and slowly followed their sporadic surfacing trail. when we were within several hundred feet, we jumped in, and Scott Soens and i raced to where we last saw the whales. Low and behold, we were met by a 15 foot calf, who swam circles around us while investigating our strange bodies and waterhousings.

Looking down into the deep blue abyss, a larger, darker shape that was barely visible followed us as we lazily drifted in the open ocean current. after about 15 minutes, the calf dove down to the dark shape, just barely visible while easily 75 feet below us. The now 2 dark shapes swam parallel to us for several moments before they began their ascent, directly before us. Lo-and-Behold, it was a 55-60 foot long mother whale, who came up and surfaced within arms reach of Scott and I.

I was so speechless that i honestly felt that i was paralyzed, and can truly claim this was one of the only moments i have ever struggled to take a picture. after surfacing, the two were off into the blue with just one swift flick of the tail. hands down the most spectacular moment of my life.