Befriending a Sperm Whale

- [Patrick] But then something strange happened out of the blue.

And it started like any other time.

We were tracking along with a family that we didn't know before, (water splashing) and there was one whale that sort of came a bit closer, and then it tilted upwards.

She's sending out a sonar pulse, scanning my body, your kidney, your lungs, your rib cage.

She's really getting a full 3D picture of what I am, of my interior.

Nobody knew this whale.

I could see she had was like a fresh wound on the side of her face from what was obviously a squid scratch when feeding on some giant squid.

(water burbling) (object creaks) When sperm whales first see each other in the Eastern Caribbean, they make a clicking sound in a very distinct pattern.

Tick-tick, tick-tick-tick.

(object clicking) Like morse code.

(object clicking) (whale clicking) Just on a whim I knocked the side of my camera housing.

Tick-tick, tick-tick-tick.

And immediately, it only took one time.

She stopped completely, (water burbling) and then slowly inverted her body and turned completely around, and eventually came face to face with me again from maybe two feet away.

(object creaking) And then I tried some physical actions, then I rolled in the water.

(water burbling) And then I watched and she rolled in the water.

(water burbling) (suspenseful music) Nobody knew this whale.

She hadn't been named yet.

So I called her Delores.

After about 45 minutes, she slowly rolled over and just disappeared down into the depths.

(water splashing) There are lots of reasons that draw me back to Dominica, but she quickly became the whale that I wanted to see the most.