Page 63 - Travel + Leisure India & South Asia (January 2020)
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around 60, she tells us. My myopic eyes that don under-
corrected lenses can only make out vague grey shapes in
the distance as the pod swiftly races away, and I curse
myself for the short-sightedness of not carrying binoculars.
The dolphin sighting has everyone murmuring and
moving on the deck, anticipating eyeballs eagerly
scanning the ocean. Suddenly, there are excited screams
from the other side of the boat. “It’s a humpback!” the
guide announces. I arrive just in time to see a massive
pair of flippers disappear in the water with a splash.
Humpbacks typically dive for four to 10 minutes, but they
are capable of holding their breath for almost an hour.
We wait for about 10 minutes and decide to move on
when the whale doesn’t resurface.
At this point, I am wondering if the tail splash is as
good a sighting as I am ever going to get. We see another
pod of dolphins, but they, too, pay us no heed. Then the
catamaran comes to a choppy halt. There’s a humpback Nile greets us by spraying us with water
whale at a distance, but again, I can barely see it. Soon, it Humpback whales from her blowholes. She does this every few
sometimes peek
approaches the boat, as if she’s heard my silent pleas. out of the water to minutes, each breath leaving an ephemeral
She—yes, it’s a female—pauses near the boat, checking “spy” on tourists. rainbow in its wake. All of a sudden, she raises
us out. Her gigantic head, dotted with tubercles, is clearly These whales her head vertically out of the water, hovers for
visible just beneath the water surface, and we stare at her sometimes work a few seconds, and dips back in. She is “spying”
mesmerised. Somewhere in the background, the tour in packs to create on us, we are told, for we are as much a subject
guide is telling us that it’s incredibly rare for whales to a ‘bubble net’ to of her curiosity as she is of ours.
trap fish. The
come this close—this is only the fourth time this has ample bait on the Nile lets out low grunts. This is a signal
happened in the last three years. surface attracts that another humpback, a male, has joined
She wants to get a better view and decides to wade other predators the party. He is 30 years old, and his name is
like birds.
under the boat. We let out a collective gasp, suddenly Coral. Together, they circumambulate the
becoming deeply aware of her size. Adult female boat, scrutinising us from all angles. Coral is
humpbacks can grow up to 52 feet long. Her name is less interested, it seems, as he dives for longer
Nile, and she is as old as me (29 years). She visits periods and stays wary of the boat, though he
Massachusetts every year, and her movements have been does go under it a few times—perhaps to
well documented over the years. scratch his itchy back. I can imagine him
looking at us and wondering, “What’s Nile
fussing about?” Now, they sporadically let out
high-pitched grunts, probably sharing notes
about the curious floating humans.
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF BOSTON HARBOR CRUISES; ALAN GALLERY/ALAMY
The two of them are not mates, we are
informed. They have formed a temporary
pack, most likely to hunt during the feeding
season, and they will eventually go their
separate ways. Humpbacks are solitary
creatures. These baleen whales are popular
for their songs, which can be heard for miles.
The rendezvous lasts for 40 minutes. The
whales eventually lose interest in us, and we
head back to the shore. The return journey
seems a lot shorter, though it takes over an
hour, as I bask in the memories of an
incredible encounter.
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TR AV E L A NDLE I S U R E IND I A .IN 59
