Ten Days in Grand Turk
Grand Turk is a small island comprised of less than 5000 people. It is the capital of the Turks and Caicos island chain in the British West Indies. The most popular tourist destination in Turks is another island named Providenciales, aka Provo cuz Providenciales is a mouthful. Grand Turk is a 20min flight east of Provo. This is where cruise ships come to dock, donkeys roam free, and humpback whales chill in clear, shallow waters. It is much more underdeveloped than Provo so you get a real sense of how Turks and Caicos used to be.
I have been to Grand Turk before with my friend and her partner back in 2019 and not much has changed. The same spots we visited are exactly how I remember them. This would be my third attempt going there to whale watch for humpbacks. The first time was cancelled due to bad weather (it happens) and the second time was cancelled because it was March 2020 (say no more, amiright?) I arrived on a Monday February 19th, later than expected because my intercaribbean flight was delayed by three hours. We sat on the tarmac in that small plane for nearly an hour. Luckily, I had a made a friend while waiting so we chatted to keep ourselves from going insane.
When I originally made the plan to see humpback whales in Grand Turk I decided to stay for ten days to make sure that I would have as much time in the water as possible. What a good decision that was! I was blessed with one half day and three full days out at sea with Deep Blue Charters. I cannot recommend them enough. The three people who made this experience possible were Captain Kell, first mate Roger and marine biologist Katharine. They worked seamlessly as a team. They have been doing this work for several years and it was clear, they could speak whale.
Unlike other whale tour groups these guys are incredibly respectful of the whales in their habitat. Grand Turk is where the hungry mommas come to rest after a three month fasted journey from the feeding ground. When tracking the whales the boat crew were adamant about not overstaying our welcome. We didn’t want to stress the mama whales out. Katharine from Deep Blue has tracked whales from the gulf of Maine, Newfoundland and Labrador, Iceland, Greenway and Norway.
When we were in the water (yes, we got IN the water next to the whales) we were cautious not to disturb the mother with her calf or get too close. We were sure to keep out of the whales line of sight and we swam beside or behind them. We were not to interfere with their environment, instead we chilled at a reasonable distance and watch them gracefully float in the most beautiful water I have ever seen. Two incredible experiences happened with a whale name Agassiz from the Gulf of Maine who swam right under me in crystal clear shallow waters while singing!! THEN, when I was in the boat he was right next to us and started slapping his pec fin on the top of the water and THEN rolled over on his back splashing about, like, what!? I couldn’t believe it. Agassiz makes several appearances in my whale video, you can see him here.
Even though we were at a respectful distance with all whale encounters, we were so close! I was in awe with how large they are and how gracefully they swam in the water. In one swoop of their tail fin they disappeared into the mystic. One day we had the opportunity to spend 45 minutes swimming next to a mother, her calf and their escort. They didn’t want to swim away from us; they were just as curious about us as we were them. This was an another highlight of the whole experience. How many highlights is too many highlights!? A baby humpback whale made eye contact with me and I will never be the same!
This was the one day I decided not to bring my Go-Pro because conditions were rocky and I didn’t want to worry about dropping it. Grateful for Katharine and her GoPro skills, she got the shot, and I was able to relive this moment and put it in my video. I swam right beside Katharine the entire time (and sometimes in front of her, haha), so anything she shot would have been the same as me. It was nice not to worry about my videographer skills and enjoy the present moment. Did I mention that I made eye contact with the humpback calf!?
Sometimes the whales weren’t swimming and they were just straight up chillen. Have you seen a humpback whale take a nap? I have. The whales rest face down to the bottom of the ocean floor their tail fins in the air on a 75 degree angle, like parked trucks. The tails gently bob up and down with the motion of the water. We would float behind them and watch their massive tail fin bob up and down. Then after a while they would slowly float their head up and swim off in another direction. The water conditions were so good. Honestly, I don’t think you can see humpbacks in these conditions anywhere else in the world… okay maybe you can, but for the sake of this blog I am going to say you can’t. teehee.
I had every whale experience you could encounter except hearing a whale singing under water. Mr. Agassiz that I mentioned earlier is singing in the video of us floating above him, but I couldn’t hear him singing when I was in the water. Wahhh. You can’t have it all! Still, I had so many amazing experiences. I witnessed a humpback calf learn how to breach. I want to say he was jumping in and out of the water but he was more, like, flailing; it was goofy and it was silly and it was juvenile, s’cute. We also saw two adults breach the water showing him how its done. The adults were slow and graceful, so when you compared that to the calf’s breach, it was comical. That was the day I saw humpback whales napping for the first time with their noses down like parked transport trucks and we saw two males swimming in sync with one another. Such besties.
Wait, I didn’t even mention the dolphins! Dolphins! Little tiny dolphins popped up in front of the boat and behind the boat and surfed in the wake. If I were to be reincarnated as an animal please let it be a dolphin, thanks God! Another honourable mention would be the reef! I was so mesmerized with the whales that I didn’t look at anything else, I was focused. After we swam with that one batch of whales for 45minutes I just floated there, mostly because I was exhausted. You try swimming with humpback whales, it’s like being a short person running next to a giant. As I was floating there I noticed a massive reef about 30 meters down. What beauty! I free dived to a few little spots to stare at the tiny things that move in and out of the reef’s landscape.
Ugh! What a life I lead. It was a huge bucket list item that I can double, no, triple cross off my list. What a dream! It was worth the wait. I don’t know if I will ever have another whale experience like that again…unless I go back ;) I hope that my next wild animal experiences are just as lucky and respectful as the experiences I had with Deep Blue Charters, cuz they heightened the bar. It was beyond. Big thank you to the whole team. Now I am back in Provo for another week before I head off to my next chapter, I can safely say that this was a trip of a lifetime.
