Swimming with Baby Humpback Whales (incredible encounters)

Here we go first.

Well, again.

If you look at a map of where we are right now and you start zooming out, it's just water, water, water, water and more water. We have come to this tiny chain of islands in the middle of nowhere because it is the best place in the world to swim with humpback whales.

This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.

And this catamaran is going to be our home for the next seven days as we spend as much time in the water as possible with these beautiful creatures. Hey, I think it's happening.

Really?

We're swimming. The reason Tonga is such a special place to swim with humpbacks is because this is where they come to have their babies. So they spend half of the year in Antarctica, which is their feeding grounds. And then they make the 6,000 kilometer journey here to the protected waters of Tonga to have their babies and raise them until they're strong enough to go back to Antarctica. So being here during these few months when the mother whales are nurturing their babies gives us the perfect opportunity to spend time in the water with these 45 foot giants and their babies. This is the moment of the trip that I have been waiting on for an entire week.

Good morning. It is day six. On board this beautiful catamaran, the sun.

The sun is just beginning to rise. Got up before my alarm. And today we're going to show you what a typical day looks like living on board.

Thank you, Dior.

The rest of the day usually turns out to be pretty hectic, but the mornings are nice and slow. We always have coffee, cereal, fruit, and always something homemade.

Today is fresh bread.

I promise we did not plan the timing of that. That was so perfect.

At this point, we're just killing time until we can pull up the anchor and go swim with that mom and baby that we've just been watching from the boat all morning. I'll explain why that is in a minute, but while we wait, I thought this would be a good time to introduce you to everyone on board. There's obviously myself and Kara. My parents are joining us this week. And then we have our new friends, Paul and Sasha. And finally the family that owns this boat and makes this entire trip possible. Dave is our captain, Tris is playing chef, and DeOrr is our well guide. Anytime you're doing a small group tour like this, the people can really make or break the trip. And this has been an amazing group to be around all week. Although I am probably kind of biased because half of the group is made up of my family. It's been a special week.

Beautiful day here on board.

So there are some regulations here in Tonga when it comes to swimming with the whales. It's not just a free for all. And their rule is you can only be in the water with humpbacks between 9am and 4pm so every day at 9, everybody's caffeinated. We lift the anchor. Is that what it's called? Pull the anchor, raise the anchor and we start looking for whales. And even if we don't see any, I like to have my swimsuit on, get my wetsuit on and just be ready. This is not a quick process.

Real quick, we want to say a big thank you to Surfshark for sponsoring this video, for being completely honest. This is kind of a weird video for Surfshark to sponsor considering it's probably the only week of the year that I've gone without using their product. Because we were on a boat with no Internet. But normally we're doing a lot more of this sitting in a hotel room, getting work done so we can get these videos out to you. And when we're working in places like this, we always make sure that we're using using a VPN for an added layer of protection. If you don't know what a VPN is, it stands for Virtual Private Network and it encrypts all the data sent between our computer and the Internet so that no one can steal our sensitive information. Because the public WI fi like the one that we're using in this hotel right now, can be a gold mine for hackers. But a VPN can be used for more than just security. It can also be used to unlock content that isn't available in your area. So if we're sitting in this hotel and we want to watch a show that we're used to watching back in the us it's super easy to change the virtual location of our computer and get access to a completely new content library. If you don't already have a vpn, we highly recommend surfshark. We've been using it and talking about it for years now and it is the only VPN to offer one account for unlimited devices. Plus, if you use our code karaandnate, you can get three months for free and there's a 30 day money back guarantee so there is no risk to try it out. To get started, just click the link in the description below. What's the situation this morning?

More great weather.

We've got a mother and calf not too far away at the moment and we're just waiting for this next little bit of rain to dissipate so we can get in a little bit closer.

So at this point, now that the anchor's up, everybody's got their eyes on the water. We're all looking for whales right now. We're searching for the mom and cath that were hanging out with us this morning. And then once we spot one, it's on Captain Dave to slowly approach it and decide whether or not we can get in the water.

Basically, they need to know that the boat is there so that it's not a surprise. So I usually get to within about 300 metres and do a really, really slow, slow approach from 300 meters. It depends on the whale, how it moves in the water, as to sensing our presence. Usually move into 200, 100, and then from 100, if she's still happy with us there, then we can get some swimmers ready and hopefully jump in the water.

This is amazing.

Surprise.

A whale is following the boat right now. This is the first time this has happened. Usually we find them. This one found us. What's so funny is everyone on board right now gets this excited every time we see a whale, even though this is probably the hundredth time. Like, even the crew who have been doing this for 15 years get this excited. It just never gets old. Cold.

99% of time on board is amazing, but by far the worst part of the day is squeezing into a cold wetsuit that was supposed to be dry because you set it out all night and then it rained this morning.

But Kathy Dave did teach me a hack. A plastic bag makes putting on a wetsuit 10 times easier. So you just put your foot in it. It looks ridiculous. Try to balance it a bit. And watch this.

Did you see how long it took Kara to stick her foot through her it earlier this morning? It was like the whole time she was talking, she put one leg in.

I'm a bit faster than that.

So for the next seven hours, we never really know what's going to happen. Sometimes we're in the water, we're out of the water, we're in the water, we're out of the water. And other times we're on the boat until lunchtime.

This is a classic case of the whales are around the boat for what felt like forever. We're like, they're definitely here to stay.

Watching them while we're eating breakfast, everybody.

Gets suited up and as soon as we're ready to get in, it's like they know. They just disappear. They're probably sick of the rain and wanted to go under for a little while.

Speaking of the rain, even though it's raining, I think today is actually the warmest day of the trip so far. It is unseasonably cold to the point where a few days ago, the second coldest recorded temperature.

Ever in Tonga was recorded. How do I say this? 9°. I mean, it's not that cold.

9°C.

Yeah.

And apparently the news was telling the Tongans to go inside and stay warm.

So they didn't get sick.

Is that not so cute? And here we are swimming. We found some mum and calf just over here. We're gonna go down the back step and see if we can get in the water with them.

Here we go.

Wait for us.

It's 11 o' clock and we're finally getting in the water. Well, not me. Another rule is you can only go in small groups. So James and I are sitting this one out and if we're lucky, they'll come back and we'll spot.

Off they go, this is so exciting.

You never know what's gonna happen. Between the time we jumped in and the time we swam towards her, she was gone. That is. What is that? Whale skin.

What?

That's what Dior said. Either that or she's playing a joke on me. Oh, wow.

Talent. Tris.

Just put water in the kettle. Water in the kettle. Water in the kettle for a cuppa. Not bad. Pretty good.

Not bad.

What do you think, Pop?

Terrible.

What do you want?

I'm on smoko, so leave me alone.

Who's driving the boat? Come on, smart time. Slay me.

Alarm.

Every day around this time, whether there are whales or not, Tris makes us a little mid morning snack today. It's savory scones made from scratch.

Big dog in the foot pen.

The food's been so good.

And then you gotta go.

The whale dance. Beautiful. I can feel them coming.

This is what happens when you spend an entire week on board a tiny boat.

The sea state right now is kind of reminding me of the passage that we made on day four between two of these different island chains. It was the roughest seas that I've ever been on in a boat this size.

How we going out here?

Good.

We hit a wave so hard at the perfect angle that the bread maker tipped over. Cutting board slid out. This whale flew off and straight into her hand.

The camera just makes everything look so flat. There is just no way to appreciate how rolly it is out here right now.

The wave got me.

Big one. That in itself was something that I'm honestly just glad I got to experience experience because I've never done anything like that before.

This little like in between time when we see her but we're not really sure if she's gonna stay is just.

So exciting. We just gotta wait on the captain's call.

Standby.

Okay. Into the water. It's just right there, like 50 meters off the back of the boat.

It.

A brother and a baby Popeye's whale right in front of my eyes. So when the baby is resting on the mother's nose, it's kind of like they're cuddling because the whale's mouth and nose have all these little bumps and each little bump has one hair follicle and those are all of the nerve endings. So it's a really sensitive part of their body. And when the baby is laying on the mother's nose, it's kind of like they're giving a hug. So cute for them to be so gigantic, but so gentle and still. It's just mind blowing.

It is so surreal to be swimming in the water with something that's the size of a school bus. I'm sitting there filming it through the camera and I'm literally having to remind myself that this is real life. And when I say the size of a school bus, I'm not exaggerating. The average size of the full grown whales that we're swimming with out here is 45ft. And I just looked it up. The school bus is 35ft long. So these wells are actually on average 10ft longer than a school bus. And then they have their babies with them that are probably, probably the size of a small car. But those babies are drinking up to 500 liters of milk per day. So 500 liters is about 130 gallons, which means it's two and a half of those 55 gallon drums that you would see gas stored in. They're drinking that much milk every day. And the milk is 50% fat. So in doing that, they're gaining 50 kilos of weight per day. I weigh about 70 kilos. So they're basically gaining a small human's amount worth of weight per day.

How to make a big sandwich.

Sandwich, my dear.

I've learned so many new words this week. Tris has prepared us pumpkin soup and fresh bread. Are you alright with it? I cannot imagine a better combo on this cold rainy day. Obviously swimming with humpback whales is the highlight of this week for me. But the food is honestly a close second. Like we had homemade pasta the other night. I'm shocked every single time the food hits the table. It just keeps getting better and better. And extra appreciated considering the fact that we survived on a deserted island last week and ate one fish a day. Every morning.

The whale just came right next to the boat and just went, I'm here. I'm ready.

And now it's a race to see if we can get our wetsuits on fast enough to get in the water with it.

Crazy.

Who's got the plastic back? You've got the plastic? I've got it.

He's right next to. Next to the boat.

Oh, that's a. No way.

Wow.

This is the closest one yet.

Got him.

You know that they have eyes on the whale when Dior holds her hand up in the air. So even though I can't see anything, I know that they are.

Oh, my gosh.

No way.

What is going on?

They're everywhere.

This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.

Oh, my God.

This is crazy.

Oh, my gosh. Have you ever seen behavior like this? Yes.

It's almost scary. Yeah.

That's normal.

Yeah. That was the best.

This is the moment of the trip that I have been waiting on for an entire week. That was magical. Terrifying and magical at the same time.

That was, without a doubt, the most special experience of the entire trip. We came here to swim with baby humpbacks. That's what I thought I really wanted to see. But a mom being that playful and that inquisitive in the water, coming so close, such a big animal, just.

Oh.

And you really just have to have full trust that it's not going to run into you, because there's absolutely nothing that you could do. Like, if I wanted to get out of the way, there's no way I could swim fast enough. So it was really scary the first few times where it was just coming right at me. But then I just learned to trust it, and it was the most magical experience. It was worth shivering in my wetsuit for the last week, just for that moment.

Okay. The whale craziness has calmed down a little bit. We're searching for a new group to hopefully swim with. While we wait, I thought I'd show you around our catamaran that we've called home for the last six days. I love the layout of this cat. It's super open here on the main level. To my right is the galley, which is a boat kitchen. The. This is where Tris has been making all of our magnificent meals. And here is the only bathroom on the whole boat. Which I thought would be a little tricky with nine adults, but it hasn't been that bad. Oh, no doubt the best part about this shower is the hot water. And the way that this is built, it literally becomes.

It's literally Z of the camera.

There's a very.

Large window right above the potty. So you gotta be careful because then people can see you using the toilet and showering naked.

Just kidding. I could actually see a little bit of a silhouette.

No way.

Yeah, you gotta get really close to it and go like that.

There are four bedrooms on board. There are two in each hole and I think they're all about the same. So I'll show you ours.

Theirs is way better.

Sorry. Paul and Sasha.

It's like elevated. They have all this storage and they have a closet. Let us show you. Welcome to our room. Believe it or not, I cleaned up in here this morning because I knew we were going to be giving a tour, but it's already been wrecked. That's what happens because it's like, oh, wells, oh, change. Oh, dry clothes, white clothes.

And then up here on top, Captain Dave has 1200 watts of solar and there are 600amp hours of lithium batteries underneath, which means that the solar setup on this catamaran is about three times larger than what we had in our van. And it has been absolutely amazing. We've had the computers on the charger, the drones on the charger, the inverter's been on all day and we haven't had to worry about anything.

So normally in the afternoons we just hang out on the boat. We've had plenty of excitement, but today we've come to land. And this beach that I'm standing on right now actually used to be the home of the family whose boat that we're staying on. But a little less than a year ago, we're three days on from that massive undersea volcanic eruption.

Satellite images capturing the moment of the eruption.

I believe it was the largest volcano eruption ever recorded on planet earth. Somewhere about 40 or 50 miles away from here. And it created a tsunami that hit this island and it completely wiped everything away. This is where they used to live. They said their main house was here. It used to be land. There was a house sitting here. And they said the tsunami wave actually came over top of this tree. It was an 18 meter wave and it just completely washed everything away. Here's the first sign that I've seen of what used to be the only board I've seen laying on this entire beach. The power of water is incredible.

I like your strategy.

Now we're snorkeling back out to the boat. Which is all the way on the horizon out there.

I know this sounds like the jungle, but we're actually listening to the whales singing right now. It could be a kilometer away and it's this loud.

The whales are squeezing air in muscle valves in their chest. So the sound is actually coming out their chest, not out their mouth or their blowhole. So they can actually squeeze different sounds at the same time to make chords. And these whales in Tonga, all the male whales are singing the same song. So you can actually put them on an audio line. And match the audio lines up up to the same phrases, the same choruses and whatnot. All, all the same.

This is the painful part about the regulations. We were all just sitting inside admiring the footage that we had taken today. And then we just heard the whales blowing right beside the boat. And there are just three just chilling right here, just asking us to jump in and swim with them. But.

We'Re about two and a half hours past our cut off.

And this is home sweet home for the night. Another windy but beautiful anchorage.

You got it. You got it, you got it. Nice. I don't know why it didn't turn off.

Can't hand it to me, though.

That's always interesting.

That was the most stressful part of my day.

And with that, I think we'll pour ourselves the glass of wine.

Well deserved.

Magic is almost ready.

Schlocks.

That's what we call a glob. This is not schlops.

Where is that from? Sound like you were quoting something. Like having a film crew with you.

All right.

Remember what I taught you. Remember what I taught you. Since you was that big by lying. Hold on. I gotta think about the strategy here. Too much has happened today. 1.

He can't even say it was straight face. I gotta look in his eyes. Didn't see one. Five.

I just did what you told me, dude.

Trust my son.

Wow. What a day. I'll give you one guess what I'm gonna be dreaming about tonight.

All right, that does it for Tonga. We are boarding this plane for Sydney, Australia. We are flying business class for less than $100, 60 miles and points. And I just wanted to remind you that if you want to learn how you can do the same, we have a free newsletter that we send out five days a week that educates you on all this stuff. It's called Daily Drop. And we will link it down below. And then from here, we'll be trading our boat for a camper to explore the Australian outback.

Dangerous. That was how it's done.

You're not putting it on.

We might be going a little crazy. My eyes. I'm melting. I'm melting.

That's her memory slits right there.

It's like Sex ed for Welch.

It's really.