Bermuda has long been known for spectacular humpback whale watching opportunities. In the late winter and early spring, a humpback parade passes through the waters near the island as these magnificent mammals travel to their northern feeding grounds.
You can sometimes spot humpbacks from land, but the best way to get up-close-and-personal is to head for the open seas. You’ll sail miles out, spotting humpbacks from the deck, or in some cases, a glass-bottomed hull. Bermuda’s sparkling turquoise waters are even more crystal clear than usual this time of year, offering superb visibility, with depths of up to 100 feet below the surface.
You don’t necessarily need to see into the depths, though — humpback whales sometimes launch themselves right out of the water in a behavior called breaching. Breaching may be a way to loosen skin parasites – but some scientists think humpbacks are just doing it for fun.
Bermuda offers a wide variety of whale watching tours — check out some of your options at gotobermuda.com/Whale-Watching
A mother and her calf take refuge in shallow water but then the calf makes a turn into a cull de sac of coral heads and the two whales must exit in shallow water over the coral
Every once in a while I have a close encounter with humpbacks. These encounters are always on the whales’ terms. They come to the boat, the engine is off, and I am completely passive. Over time they can become increasingly curious. This encounter was the better part of three hours and by the end they were literally sticking their noses in my face. The camera shake is because I was so cold! Most of my footage is taken with a heavy Gates housing and the rig weighs around 60 pounds which is like having a tripod. This lightweight Sony camera isn’t so stable in the hands of a shivering cameraman. On the other hand, I might not have been able to swim for three hours with a heavy Gates in my hands. – Andrew Stevenson
A female humpback is curious and keeps coming back to take a look at Andrew Stevenson but her escort is jealous and keeps cutting between the two of them. The male humpback can then be seen turning within the length of his body. He even does a bubble stream to curtain the female off. Half way through this display Andrew is back-peddling as fast as he can …
Andrew Stevenson is the producer of the remarkable film/documentary “Where the Whales Sing”; winner of the 2011 Charman Prize and ‘Best Emerging Underwater Filmmaker’ at the Blue Ocean Film Festival.
The film is a culmination of three years (2007-2010) of filming and observing North Atlantic humpback whales during their mid-ocean migratory crossings.
In 2010 the documentary film Where the Whales Sing, by Andrew Stevenson premiered at the Bermuda International Film Festival. The film is a result of three years of Andrew’s researching, photographing, filming and cataloging of the humpback whales that migrate past Bermuda each spring. Bermuda’s unique mid-ocean platform provides a natural port of call for the humpbacks during their seasonal migratory voyage to the cold northern feeding grounds. For viewers it is a visually stunning journey of discovery into the life of these majestic marine mammals and a call in the plight for protection against man’s ever increasing and often devastating impact on the oceans and its inhabitants. The film is accompanied by the voice of wonder and innocence of his 6-year old daughter.
Where the Whales Sing” was an award winner for best emerging underwater filmmaker at BLUE Ocean Film Festival, a high honours winner at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, was selected as a finalist at the Nations Capital Environmental Film Festival, won an award as the best environmental film at a film festival in Croatia where it also won the audience choice award. It has been translated with Spanish subtitles for the Environmental Film Festival in Dominican Republic. Recently it won the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art 2011 Chairman Prize – A. Stevenson
Princeton Environmental Film Festival – a high Honours Winner
Nations Capital Environmental Film Festival – selected as a finalist
Croatia Film Festival – Best Environmental Film & Special Audience Choice Award.
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art – Charman Prize 2011
The musical score for the film was composed by Steve Gallant who has granted BermudaStream an exclusive interview and fascinating look into his world of musical composition – Steve Gallant Interview
North Atlantic humpbacks migrate over the open ocean each spring on their way from the breeding/mating grounds in the Caribbean to their feeding grounds up north.
Here you can see five humpbacks in Bermuda still displaying the courting/mating behaviour as two challenging males breach and pec slap to attract the attention of a mother humpback with a calf and a primary escort. You can also see a pod of dolphins bowriding the whales and see the scatter action as they dive out of the way of a breaching whale. You can also see dolphins bowriding the female as she supports her young calf on her back. You can also see the young calf lying on its back pec slapping, learing from the adults.
“Where the Whales Sing” one hour documentary on the humpbacks.
Three years ago Bermuda-based Producer/Director Andrew Stevenson embarked on what seemed like an interesting and challenging project to film the North Atlantic humpback whales underwater in the middle of their mid-ocean migratory crossings.
The humpback whales have since become an overriding passion. Come share his journey, told through the eyes of his 6-year old daughter, Elsa.
I had spent 300 hours over ten weeks trying to film the migrating humpbacks underwater. It was the end of April and I didn’t have a minute of footage. And then I was in the water filming dolphins when this whale found me. The encounter was almost two hours long often within inches of the whale. It was also the first chance I had had to use my underwater housing and video camera. I had an overwhelming feeling that I was looking into the eyes of a very intelligent creature. It took me a week to sleep after the experience and a month to talk about the experience without becoming emotional. It is tragic that the Japanese whaling fleet is setting off this year to kill 50 endangered humpback whales, 50 fin whales and 935 minke whales in Antarctica in a whale sanctuary. – Andrew Stevenson
1. Humpback whales filmed up close and underwater in Bermuda. Underwater footage of a humpback whale fifteen miles off Bermuda.
2,3,4. Bermuda Whale Song. “This is the first part of a recording I made late April on Challenger Banks, fifteen miles offshore Bermuda. I believe this is one of the most beautiful recordings I have of a humpback whale, the sounds are very clear. We heard this whale through the hull of a 35-foot trawler with the engine idling, gear in neutral. The recording is with the engine off, the hydrophone about 30 feet down in 170 feet of water. We hear the humpbacks singing often in this exact location, especially at night when the singing seems to be non-stop. During the day the singing is sporadic but always there are whales milling around the singer. This to me does not seem like the breeding behaviour of humpback singing in the Caribbean or Hawaii and I wonder, despite the disbelief of marine scientists, whether this whale song attracts other whales to the singer. I have often witnessed humpbacks aggregating on the Challenger Bank with as many as 14 whales in close formation milling around for some hours. The behaviour is not the aggressive behaviour seen in the breeding grounds. I have also witnessed large groups of humpbacks move on a steady course and speed (5 knots) in a north east direction and again, this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but I wonder if the whales have aggregated into large protective groups to complete the migration up north and to run the gauntlet of orcas somewhere between here and their feeding grounds. Although orca attacks have rarely been witnessed on humpbacks in the North Atlantic, about a third of this population of humpbacks have orca scars on their flukes, dorsals and pectoral fins.”
5. Sounds of Humpback whales in Bermuda http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4995 has all my video footage on “Where the Whales Sing”. Here is a track of the humpback sounds we can hear consistently off Bermuda as these whales migrate past us each spring from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. At times the singing is 24 hours per day. Is it the males singing for other males as they do apparently in the warmer waters of the Caribbean? Or are these whales singing to other whales still migrating up from the Caribbean to signal their position in the shallows off Bermuda before continuing on their migration? Where we hear the singing the loudest is also where we see the most whale activity so there does seem to be a connection. Incidentally, most of the id matches Allied Whale has made (by matching our photographs of tail flukes) have been with whales photographed in Newfoundland.
“Relax and Meditate – Session 1”
