Freediving with Whales! Wanna come?
Photo credit: Lionel Lauret via bbc.com
Freedive with whales!
Why would anyone want to swim with a forty-five ton, sixty foot long predator that has eight inch long teeth?
It’s all in the name of science. But to be quite honest, whales are incredibly shy when it comes to being observed. The scuba gear, submarines, and robotics that are normally used to study marine life often scare the whales away before any data can be gathered.
So Dare Win, an independent, non profit research program began freediving with whales, particularly humpback and sperm whales. The divers’ only equipment is their masks, flippers, and one hefty breath of air. They are the first group to dive with whales solely for research purposes.
Some experienced divers can hold their breath for up to four minutes! The whales become intrigued by this never before seen “marine animal” and sometimes allow the diver to stay with their pod for hours collecting data.
It really is a unique way of observing these massive creatures!
Swimming with whales is not without its potential dangers. They usually will not attack unless they are being attacked and even then it is rare. They can however smother you, decapitate you with their tails, and even shake you to death with their intense vocal vibrations.
We’ll let you take a moment to shudder at those thoughts.
The sperm whales that Dare Win dives with have an impressive set of pipes! They have the loudest “voice” of any creature on this planet!
The vocalizations form part of their echolocation system which sends out clicks and listens for the echos. It is the most powerful and precise sonar system known to man.
Using this system, they can detect a human up to a mile away! The vibrations are so powerful they basically become an X-ray machine viewing objects from the inside out.
It’s almost unbelievable that people freedive with these enormous and powerful animals. But we sure hope they continue observing them (as long as both the whales and humans are safe) and inform the rest of the world of the wonders of these amazing whales.
