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Spring 2002
An exceptional adventure!
On February 27th, the morning dive trip to Bloody Bay on Banana Wind took un unexpected twist. Boats in Cayman Brac had reported spotting a pod of whales, and after a unanimous vote we decided to try to find them. The weather was good and the sea relatively calm. Thanks to our new boat, we were on location in less than 30 minutes. It took another 30 minutes of search patterns under GPS guidance to finally hear someone onboard shout:" There they are!"
We had found them!
There were multiple pods of sperm whales, or most probably small groups of the same pod. They'd cruise slowly on the surface, and then plundge down to the great depths of the 5000 ft. deep channel between Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. We timed their dives and found them to be rather regular; they would dive together, stay down for around 10 minutes and surface within visual range of their descent spot.
After they had done 2 dives, we were ready to bring our encounter to a new level. We waited for the pod to surface, repositioned the boat and let out everybody in the water for some high intensity snorkeling. The briefing had been very strict, yet very simple: "Wait for the captain's go, jump in, and enjoy. Remember that these amazingly peaceful animals are still wild, and even though they seem to ignore our presence, be respectful."
Everybody was. It would have been hard to lack respect to a group of 10 to 12 sperm whales measuring 15 to 30 feet. (Some later research makes us think this was a pod of females and calves.) Luckily, there were 3 cameras onboard, including 2 digitals. The pictures speak for themselves.
Everybody (well almost everybody; someone had to stay up and drive the boat) got to jump in and swim with the whales three or four times. We had extraordinary luck. The encounter was humbling, and exhilarating.
On the way back, all agreed: it was once in a lifetime!
Banana
Wind is here!
She is
called Banana Wind. She is a brand
new custom-built 35ft. dive boat, equipped with two 225 HP Optimax outboard
engines. She runs like the wind, carrying 10 to 15 divers at up to
30 knots around the island to Bloody Bay in less then 20 minutes!
Banana Wind arrived in Little Cayman on the 8th of December after an uneventful crossing from Grand Cayman. We have been using her since the 12th, to everyone's great satisfaction.
Why Banana Wind, will you ask? Well just like for our other boat Havana Daydreaming, the singer Jimmy Buffet has the answer for us. A "banana wind" is an island term; it's a wind which, if not quite as strong as a hurricane, will still manage to blow the bananas off the trees.
We are already planning summer trips to Cayman Brac's Russian Destroyer wreck, weather permitting of course.
The staff at Paradise Divers
