Kayaker snaps pictures as whales get close enough to smell

By BRIDGET CARTER

Dan Hawthorn was sitting quietly in his kayak off the coast of Northland when he was suddenly confronted with a whale that came so close he could smell its breath.

It was among a pod of either Bryde's or minke whales, swimming and circling near Bream Head which made a "hrooosh" sound as they approached him.

For two hours, the 57-year-old computer science lecturer sat in his kayak taking photos and enjoying the sight of the creatures splashing in the water.

Sometimes they were close enough for him to smell "whale breath", he said.

Their breath smelt like "animal and shrimp and some indefinable spice that is not cinnamon but akin".

He saw one of the distant whales "tailwalk", its upper body riding out of the water for half a minute.

Mr Hawthorn, of Morningside, Auckland, saw the whales around 10am on Saturday while kayaking around the coast. He was taking photographs of the Bream Head area with his brand new digital camera.

Twice he saw "violent flurries" on the surface as a whale seemed to want to dive immediately and change direction, leaving him with a "sense of my fragility and smallness".

One whale almost 25m ahead dived quietly. The next thing he knew, its nose appeared 3m from the front of the kayak. It kept rising until it was 2m in the air, overhanging the kayak.

In an email to the Herald, Mr Hawthorn wrote: "I am partly watching this through the viewfinder, saying to the camera, 'hurry up for Christ's sake, take the bloody picture'.

"The auto-focus has never seemed so slow. The camera finally clicks and I shove it back in the bag."

In the moments before the whales disappeared, Mr Hawthorn said one of the pod rose from the water to inspect him. It did this three times before dropping back into the water.

"There is a moderate splash and surging water comes over the nose of the kayak but it is soon gone. I am alone in the ocean again, awed and shaken."

Mr Hawthorn described the whales as long and slender with pleated throats and pointed heads. They were around 9m, he said.

Marine mammal biologist Martin Cawthorn said the whale photographed was either a small Bryde's whale or minke. Both approached small boats and were seen in northeast coastal waters and the Hauraki Gulf.

Positive identification of the species was not always easy, he said.

Herald Feature: Conservation and Environment

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