Sunday, September 11, 2011

Kingdom of Tonga (Day 7)




Unfortunately, the weather has remained poor and it has been quite difficult to find tolerant whales. Multiple rapid deployments into the water yielded only brief glimpses of whales, who with a gentle flick of their massive tails, slip quickly out of reach.  On our last attempt of the day, we found a calf resting on its mother's head whose chin is adorned with a beard of remora.  Two large healing bite wounds (at least 2 foot across) in the region of the calf's dorsal fin were likely inflicted by the resident tiger sharks.