Article & photographs by Ralph Pannell, Aqua-Firma director & photographer
The last week of March on Aqua-Firma's 2024 Caribbean Humpback Whale Watching & Snorkel experience, I watched this calf breach more than 150 times in succession; and another breach more than 200 times as we followed it for an hour and a half, watching from a respectful distance away.
The 150 breacher did stop eventually, allowing us to make use of our permit to drop into the water for a snorkel: such a beautiful and special underwater encounter with the calf and its mother. The 200 breacher did not give up, so with the afternoon starting to turn into early evening, we had to head back to our ship base whilst the calf kept on having its fun - mother and male escort close at hand.
Humpbacks are thought to breach for several reasons: calves seem do so for play, excitement and to copy spectacular breaches they see full grown males performing. Male humpbacks breach in these tropical breeding grounds to impress females and intimidate other males. We often see groups of males pursuing females at Silver Bank, performing breaches, violent fin slaps and full-on collisions. A huge amount of energy is consumed doing this, with almost no opportunity for these whales to feed before they get back to the Arctic.
Calves do not experience the same lack of feeding opportunities as adults: they can draw on their mother's resources in the form of rich milk. It is estimated that a humpback calf consumes more than an 100 gallons (450 litres) of milk a day. With a fat content of around 50% (!) they can grow more than 30cm (a foot) in a month.
I saw a calf breaching time after time Crossing the Polar Circle in Antarctica this January. Again, play and excitement were probably the reasons. Adults are unlikely to do this in cold water, since their focus here is on feeding, not breeding; although breaching is also thought to be useful in ridding humpbacks of skin parasites; and possibly to herd fish. Our visual rewards in the Arctic and Antarctica are glorious views of their tail flukes; raised humps; gentle blows into the icy air as they rest; and the sight of bubble net circles.
You can join Aqua-Firma Marine Scientist & director, Charlotte Caffrey, at Silver Bank next March. Charlotte has been hosting Aqua-Firma's Humpback Whale Watching & Snorkel experiences here since 2017. For details click HERE.