Whales are my favourite animals to see underwater as I think there is something of utmost beauty in those animals, almost mystical. Here in Revillagigedo, we are diving in Cabo Pearce with the sound of the whales all dive long. It is the best soundtrack you can hope for a dive, believe me. The sound you will here while diving is not at all what you would expect: the long distant moaning, that Dori imitates in Finding nemo 😉 Humpback whales have actually a song, that is made of various distinct noises that they repeat in a sequence. Biologists have found out that this song is shared by a same group of whales, meaning they all sing the same sequence, like their own language. Only the males have been listened singing. To describe the sounds they make, it is a variety of bubbly sounds (like bubbles exploding) followed by very low tune throat-like sounds, then high pitch squikky sounds (like when you rub the surface of an inflatable ballon). Besides the singing, humpback whales are known for other ways of communicating: body language, as they use their flukes and fins flapping at the surface to attract or discourage other whales or breeches to create this loud explosive sound when they land in the water, that you can hear from a long distance away. Mexico and particularly the peninsula of baja california is the best place in the world to observe those humpbacks: a population of them comes every year to spend the winter in the warmer water of baja, after feeding all summer in the sea of Bering, along Alaska. Here in Mexico, they will mostly spend their time socializing with each other, and try to get lucky so they can mate! About a year later, next winter in Mexico, the female whale will give birth to a calf and raise it for the first months in Mexico, until it is strong enough to swim up to the see of Bering. That is why all the whales we see around the boats in Socorro Islands are Mexican!
Divemaster Yann, Nautilus Belle Amie
