Underwater tales

By Cheranka Mendis

 For underwater photographer Tony Wu, the waters hold secrets that he loves to uncover. In his box of memories are layers and layers of maritime favourites, some captured on camera, and some safe in his mind.

He has made friends with the fish, seen them grow and procreate, has nearly become shark-bait, was almost swallowed by a giant sperm whale and has swum through neon orange whale defecation. Wu is an individual who has discovered peace in the deep.

Sharing his marine adventures at the first ever event hosted by Cinnamon Nature Trails after its rebranding group’s brand enhancement plan at ‘Explore the World series 2013’ hosted in partnership with Nations Trust Bank, American Express and Cinnamon Grand, Wu acknowledged that it was his curiosity that took him beneath the ocean to experience wonders that one usually sees on glossy magazine pages.

From Wall Street to the ocean

Born in Japan, Wu was a curious kid and unlike most other kids, did not fit in at school. “I was bored very easily,” he said. “But I had a lot of curiosity, so I used to ask a lot of questions and explore all different possibilities.” After his education he found himself working on Wall Street where he lost his fear of a different type of shark and discovered his preference for the underwater variety instead. “That is how I ended up ditching everything I knew and became an underwater photographer,” he explained.

Having dived under the deep sea to and viewed the amazing beauty of coral reefs in all their glory and spent quality time with the aquatic life sitting long enough for them to allow him to come close and snap them at their natural best, it was only natural for him to turn to photographing whales 12 years back. Having first attempted this in 1998 only to “fail miserably”, he tried it again two years later with little success. “It was only 12 years ago that I started to get some success,” he said. Since then he has been doing this every year without fail.

Humpbacks

Showing photographs of two 35-40 ton adult humpback whales slapping the surface with their tails, he explained that humpbacks are baleen whales that have no teeth and use filters instead to sift plankton from the sea water. “Over time I got to know them very well and now I can read what they are going to do, figure out their personalities from afar and get pretty close,” Wu said.

“One of the great things about this species is their offspring. They are mammals and like cats and dogs they demonstrate curiosity. They tend to be inquisitive and they hang around their mothers a lot,” he said. Humpbacks also like to make eye contact and use sound for communicating. Wu explained that the baby whales make noises similar to the gurgling of infants. Playful by nature, they love to put on a show by sometimes swimming upside down and even hang upside down, “probably because they can,” he added.

Wu sometimes mimics their actions when he comes across a friendly pod; hanging upside down, performing flips and twirls etc. “They seem to love it! And they are rather cute to watch,” he said, adding that adult whales have some incredible acrobatic movements and are blow bubbles when they are happy or as a sign of aggression.

One thing about photographing whales is that you need to be in shape, he admits. This is because whales move a lot and in order to capture them the photographers need to have the stamina to keep up.

He recalled his experience of meeting what he termed a “psychotic whale” that chased behind him only to swim over him at the last minute. “If you make eye contact with a mammal you can sometimes tell what’s going on inside his head and this whale was absolutely nuts. He chased me and I got caught. He was coming straight at me and I had to trust that he will not do anything. He came right at me and at the last minute swam over my head by just a whisker. It was crazy,” related Wu.

Having had the good fortune to visit Alaska last year during a group feeding time, he expressed the wonder of seeing more than 15 whales being led by the pod’s leader that makes a series of sounds with which it controls and coordinates all the others. To his call the whales surround the fish and come rushing in to feed. “It is pretty spectacular. They also come quite close to the boats,” he explained.

 Whale mating

“My favourite part of being with humpbacks is that they form groups where four males get together and chase a female,” he noted. “When I started doing this, people said it was insane, dangerous and that no one was allowed to do that but over time I realised that whales know exactly what they are doing, showing surprising control over every part of their body in their movements and I know they will not come after me.”

The courtship of the competitive groups usually ends with a female picking a mate or with one of the contenders driving the others off. Once this happens, the female becomes quite friendly and initiates an invitation to the male to join her in an elaborate mating dance. Wu said that this dance continues for days before they head off to mate.

“Last year was probably the best season I had because the water was very clear and there were lots and lots of whales,” he said, adding that he even played whale wedding photographer to a couple who posed still for some 20 minutes giving him enough time to observe them and capture some brilliant shots.

Sperm whales

Speaking of sperm whales that have fascinated Wu since his childhood; thanks to the many stories and legends that are created around them, he noted the reason behind them being hunted almost to extinction as the ‘spermaceti’, a waxy substance contained in the head of a sperm whale, is used in space programs due to the fact that it does not freeze in outer space.

“Sperm whales are termed ‘toothed’ whales that use sound to catch prey. They need to flip over to feed as their mouths are situated on their undersides.” Sperm whales also have unique markings like fingerprints, he added.

What you see in the tropics are family structures made of a bunch of females with juveniles that each female takes a turn looking after and feeding. “Quite often when you see a female and a juvenile you cannot specify that is mother and child,” Wu pointed out.

Sperm whales are also very tactile and will rub against each other and touch each other much like dogs would. They also talk a lot leading Wu to believe they live in a complex social structure and follow complex rules with regards to social positions and etiquette.

“The first time I ever got in to the water to photograph sperm whales, one took me in his mouth and I was pretty sure I was going to die. But now with many years of experience I realised he was just being friendly. It’s still a pretty unnerving experience though,” he recalled.

Sri Lankan whale experience

“I haven’t spent that much time in Sri Lanka,” Wu admits. Noting that this was his fourth visit, he added that he has had pretty good luck here having spent over 17 weeks in the ocean all around Mirissa.

He pointed out that the Sri Lankan waters host pygmy blue whales; recollecting that on his first visit three seasons ago, he saw a blue whale in the water that came close to him made eye contact and hung around for awhile. “It was too close to take photos and that sort of behaviour is not normal. If you go out 30 days and you get one chance to see a blue whale, that’s good.” He believes his luck in Sri Lankan waters may be perhaps due to the Indian Ocean’s warm water and no large wind storms etc.

Also unique to the blue whales here are the white markings on their bodies, which are not scars but birthmarks.

“In January there were lots of whales in Mirissa, now there are not so many. The visibility was quite poor,” Wu commented. “For some reason in the past three-four weeks, blue whales have been very scarce around southern Sri Lanka, nobody knows why but I’m sure it is food related,” he said.

The waters here also host Bryde’s whales that are quite shy and are almost like blue whales but smaller in size that could be identified by their black fins that look black on the surface but silver underwater, he said.

Friendly sperm whales are also swimming in abundance here. “Around the waters in Sri Lanka there are large groups of sperm whales swimming about which is quite unusual. Even though a pod of 12 is fairly normal, in the past three weeks I have seen three large groups, and the largest of which I can probably estimate had a 100 or so whales in it. I saw these groups simultaneously,” Wu recalled.

The groups usually consist only of females, as the adolescent males are kicked out of the group quite early to fend for themselves.

Wu was also forced one time to swim through whale defecation. Recalling the experience he said it was “not too bad” although he managed to lose his way swimming through it. “I presume that this is because their main prey, squid, produces ink in order to confuse predators and when I swam through the cloud of defecation I totally lost my way,” he said. “It occurred to me that maybe they do the same thing. It appears that even though these whales have no reasons to be scared of anything they tend to turn and run.”

 Developmental threats

Showcasing a photo of a 23-meter long blue whale carcass that he saw off the coast of Mirissa in the South which went viral, he pointed that the probable cause of death was its tail being severed.

Even though there is a lot of dialogue going on now with regards to whaling issues in Japan, Norway and Iceland; the biggest threat to whales today remains shipping. Shipping traffic is continuously increasing, recording double digit growth every year, with container ships 350-500 feet long, travelling at high speeds and hence unable to avoid pods along routes.

Wu attributed the death of the Blue whale to this same factor with the South coast of Sri Lanka located along some of the busiest shipping lines in the world, he added: “I’m sure no one on those ships really wants to harm the whales, but when pass by you usually don’t hear a thing underwater or even above. Stories of sailboats getting run over by cargo ships is due to the same phenomenon.” He noted that this however is not a problem limited to Sri Lanka but has now become a worldwide concern that needs urgent attention in order to conserve the species.

Pic by Lasantha Kumara