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The Undersea Explorer Dwarf Minke Whale Project is now in its tenth year. This expedition spending 6 days on the Great Barrier Ribbon Reefs, has developed into an amazing experience of in-water whale encounters unparalleled around the world. We now know a lot more about these whales than other dive boats, and we encounter over 220 whales during our 6 week season, with up to 60 whales in some weeks! On these expeditions you will swim with magnificent Dwarf Minke Whales, and have the added bonus of diving the northern Great Barrier Reef.
Most of our whale interactions are conducted while snorkelling and being totally predictable while holding on to lines attached to the vessel as it drifts. This ensures that the encounter happens under the whales terms. The dwarf minke whales within the northern Great Barrier Reef are probably the most curious and interactive of all the baleen whales.
Encounters usually last for over 1 ½ hours and often many hours with multiple whales. Usually Undersea Explorer breaks off the encounter before the whales, after hours of close whale passes and sufficient scientific data gathering! Seeing a whale from above the water is amazing, seeing a whale whilst in the water with it is incredible, close and prolonged eye contact with a whale is a lifetime experience and eyeballing a whale while its vocalisations reverberate through your chest is as good as it gets! We now know a lot more about these whales since their identification as a probable sub-species of the northern hemisphere minke whale in 1985.
The project has been responsible for developing a world-renowned set of guidelines and code of practice for minke whale encounters. This has enabled in-water encounters to be heralded by the International Whaling Commission, Marine Park Authority, & Environment Australia as world's best practice examples of in-water whale encounters. The minke project is working to ensure that the dwarf minke whale tourism is ecologically sustainable at a time when currently most in-water marine mammal interactions are being banned around the world due to potentially unsustainable practices.
Every guest on board is helping fund the project and is part of the exciting research. Snorkellers and divers will help identify individual whales, be involved in behavioural observations and be absorbed by the atmosphere of minke research.
Also remember that this is not 'just' a whale trip. There is also the magnificent diving and snorkeling on the coral gardens and pinnacles of the Great Barrier Ribbon Reefs. Mix this with world class marine interpretation with experts in whale and coral reef biology and it really is a unique adventure.
Testimonial from Phil and Ashlee Hutchens, Alabama, USA
The afternoon of the 8th we boarded the Undersea Explorer. Words cannot describe the experience that we had on the Undersea
Explorer. This boat and especially the crew were phenomenal. I have been a diver for 28 years, and an instructor for much of that time, and I have NEVER had an experience like we had on this boat. It was not just a dive boat, but an adventure. The days were completely full from the beginning dive in the morning, to midmorning dives, to snorkeling with Minke Whales, to afternoon dives, to night dives, and then on down into the meeting room where we looked at pictures from the day and discussed all that we had seen!
The crew seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were, and their enthusiasm was contagious and spread throughout the ship. The marine biologists on board were wonderful, and were such an inspiration to my daughter, Ashlee. The diving was fantastic, the reefs beautiful, and the sea life was awesome. As Ashlee and I were talking about our wonderful trip to Australia on the plane back to the States, we rated all the unbelievable adventures we had while in Australia, and at the top of a list of fantastic experiences, we both agreed that #1 was the Undersea Explorer! I would highly recommend them to any diver that is looking for serious adventure type diving."
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