Whale Rainbow

It is an extraordinary experience to witness humpback whales in their natural habitat. Often whales will come up for air close enough to the boat, that you can hear their blow; a deep exhale as these gentle giants expel the air from the lungs into the cold winter air, forming condensation. The drift of these droplets behave a little different from a splash of water, the latter would fall directly back down to the surface, while the whale blow can drift for a few metres before evaporating.

If you are lucky, you might even ‘feel’ the blow as it drifts across the boat! Beware though, this blow is basically whale snot. It often smells and can contain bacteria and diseases!

In fact, scientists use whale snot to study the whales’ genetic make-up, general health, and presence of pollutants. To collect whale snot, they fly a special drone through the snot to collect a sample… imagine that to be your job!