Assuming this is accurate, this is really quite extraordinary. I have a new fondness for whales, except for Moby Dick of course.


http://www.independent.co.uk/n...slands-a8148346.html

If the story is accurate, that's a wonderful sight.
We got to see hundreds of humpbacks when we lived in Maui, it is a thrilling sight and reason enough to go to Maui right now--they leave around March.

Us mammals gotta stick together.

I saw no evidence the woman was protected from a tiger shark. I saw her swimming around the whale and the whale hardly moving. Why the whale tolerated her is beyond me but I saw no aggressive shark movements. Nice whale video with the whale being super patient with someone who should be watching the whale and not petting it.

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:
I saw no evidence the woman was protected from a tiger shark. I saw her swimming around the whale and the whale hardly moving. Why the whale tolerated her is beyond me but I saw no aggressive shark movements. Nice whale video with the whale being super patient with someone who should be watching the whale and not petting it.

I had the same feeling. I thought maybe the (unseen)tiger shark was there to tell her how dangerous it was to be in contact w/ the huge mammal.

Or perhaps, it was so that the shark does not spill the blood of the humans and attract a whole swarm of sharks to the whale's location.

Whales are our friends.
Except Orcas. They will kill our asses.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Whales are our friends.
Except Orcas. They will kill our asses.

And Great White Sperm Whales.

They either sink our ship or drain our bank accounts, but I fear you may think I'm repeating myself.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
If the story is accurate, that's a wonderful sight.
We got to see hundreds of humpbacks when we lived in Maui, it is a thrilling sight and reason enough to go to Maui right now--they leave around March.

That gets me excited, we are going to Maui at the end of this month.

And I didn't see the whale guarding her either, people want to believe what they want to.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by arfmel:
Whales are our friends.

Don't forget Nessy, who is our Underwater Ally.

harrumph I just saw a woman swimming around a whale.

Throwing the BS Flag here.

I have done my fair share of diving in Hawaii, most of which was on Maui.

A significant portion of the worlds humpback populations migrates to Maui in Nov/Dec for birthing and usually departs by March.

Nowhere in this video did I see a Tiger shark. What I did see was a diver blatantly harassing a humpback whale. (which carries a very stiff fine in Hawaii)

If there was a Tiger in the area (Tigers are very common on the West side of Maui) I can assure you it was there for the recently birthed calfs and not this diver. Tigers are aggressive - but I have never heard of an unprovoked human attack in clear, unobstructed waters like what is depicted in this video.

In addition, a 20 foot Tiger would be a record species for Hawaii - a massive female indeed. The world record for a captured Tiger was documented in Indo-China at 22 feet. The runner up was well below 20 feet (17 I believe) in Australia.

But - the feel good story makes for some nice fantasy.

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by arfmel:
Whales are our friends.

Don't forget Nessy, who is our Underwater Ally.

I thought I was the only person in the world who liked that movie

Maybe the whale was protecting the diver from emigrant otters with Uzis...cause that's about as good story as a whale protecting a human from sharks

Plus, otters are cute...whales..not so much.

quote:

That gets me excited, we are going to Maui at the end of this month.

You're going to love it! Don't miss the Maui Ocean Center, all the local sea life that fits in an aquarium (except the mammals, monk seal, spinner dolphin, humpback whale) is on display.

The sea wss angry that day my friends....

Is that a Titleist?.....