Rurutu, French Polynesia

I spent a week and a half on a small island in the South Pacific, off the coast of Tahiti, called Rurutu. The main objective of this trip was to swim with and photograph humpback whales, specifically a mother and calf. Every day would consist of navigating around the island for five plus hours, searching for whales on a small, single engine boat.

The first few days were filled with whale breeches and spouts, but very little swimming. When I say swimming, I don’t mean a relaxing back stroke. I mean 200 yards of kicking through rough chop, to hopefully get a brief glimpse of a whale. It definitely was not for the faint of heart, but nonetheless worth it.

After three days, we finally got our first whale encounter in the water, and each day after that, the encounters only got better. For three days we spent just over nine hours total with a mother and calf. On the last day alone we spent around four hours with the pair. Being in the water with a 45 ft. whale and her nursing calf is almost incomprehensible. Under the surface, everything is quiet. Time seems to move slower. It’s almost as if it’s just you and the whales.

No distraction. No stress. Just a wonderful spectacle taking place just below the surface. Something I think every one should experience.