In July 2018, Mick Todd and I returned to Cairns for another Spoil Sport trip. This time for the Mike Ball Dive Expeditions’ “7 Night Ultimate Minke Whale Expedition”, a voyage which also included diving Cod Hole with its fabulous Malabar Goupers and Potato Cods as well as some superb diving at Summer Bay, Steve’s Bommie, Gotham City, Snake Pit, Pixie’s Pinnacle, Crack-A-Jack and Flare Point. The crew included Mike Ball himself and Julia Sumerling, an outstanding Expedition Photographer and Videographer.
Nothing beats first encounters and as I had never seen a Dwarf Minke whale, let alone been in the water with one, I was totally focused on the Minke whales.
There are two known species of Minke whales: the North Atlantic Minke whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata and the Antarctic Minke whales, Balaenoptera bonaerensis. The former visit the northern Great Barrier Reef from May to July, the only known reliable aggregation in the world. Now we just had to find some. Or more accurately they had to find us. And they did. Oh yes, we had Minke whales off the stern! Two long mermaid lines were let out and we quickly grabbed our masks, snorkels and cameras and slid into the water. They were bigger than I had expected. Weighing up to several tonnes and reaching eight metres in length, “dwarf” seemed a misnomer to me. Big but very friendly - surely they must be one of the most friendly of whales. And they seemed genuinely interested in me, slowly approaching, establishing eye contact before effortlessly gliding off. Again and again. Julia said that if I wanted to get really close encounters I should sing to them. Julia had not heard me sing.
This was a fantastic experience which I enthusiastically recommend. The Great Barrier Reef is the only location where snorkel and dive tours with Minke whales are available and Mike Ball Dive Expeditions is one of only a few operators licenced to operate them.