"Gangway!!!!" - 🔵@maestro320 s Notes: How does it feel like to be in the direct path of charging leviathans in a heatrun? This incredibke footage was filmed on location at Vava'u. Kingdom Of Tonga on tour with Darren Jew @darrenjew and Whales Underwater @whalesunderwater courtesy of My Very Good Friend, Underwater Wildlife Photographer and Filmmaker, Jasmine Carey @pxlexplorer - Happy #Humpday 💙🐋 10 Days to go!! I have #butterflies, the excitement is building and its making me dance and fidget about like no one is watching 😆 I can’t stop thinking about #heatruns #mumsandbubs and what magic will we get to see this season. It’s going to be #phenomenal. Last season we had this amazing heat run, these always seem to get better and better! I am a #heatrun junkie. Final preps are under way and @darrenjew and I will be on our way to meet our first guests #woohoo can’t wait! 💙🐋 • If an interaction with a mother and calf is a gentle and considered experience, the humpback whale heat run encounters are basically the complete opposite! Imagine if you will up to a dozen (but sometimes even more…) mature male humpback whales. Each one around 14m long and weighing about 35 tons, all with one thing one on their mind – sex… Factor in that they have swam about 6000km in the annual Tongan humpback whale migration. And not eaten since they left the Antarctic some 2-3 months before and you can probably understand their ardour! That’s a lot of energy in the water… And in Tonga you have the chance to be in among it all and witness the incredible spectacle first-hand. Heat runs are initiated by female humpback whales who signal that they “might” be ready to mate. They do this by slapping the surface of the water with her huge pectoral fins. Sending a very clear signal to any male humpbacks in the vicinity.Heat runs are extremely dynamic in nature. The quality of the humpback whale heat run encounters boil down to the ability of your boat’s skipper to read the situation. Plus understand where to get you in the water – safely and without creating a problem for the oncoming whales. (Contnd 👇👇👇) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz0jQ8zD6ru/?igshid=c5buczjyil41
