The depth of pursuit

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Atlantis Submarines-Maui has made more than 40,000 dives off Lahaina since 1991, but the sixth and last dive for the day on April 4 was the most dramatic ever.

A large group of lustful humpback whales circled the sub 100 feet down for 45 minutes, jostling and blowing threatening bubbles at one another as they made passes at a female. General Manager Jim Walsh, who has been with Atlantis in the Caribbean and Hawaii for 21 years, said his captains have seen some amazing things underwater, but never anything to match this.

Short video clips have been posted on YouTube.

Brief encounters with two or three whales underwater are infrequent but not unusual, Walsh said Wednesday. But the brawl near the sunken Carthaginian was unprecedented.

Walsh, who was not aboard himself but debriefed Capt. Ezra Wansor and his crew, said the close encounter lasted so long because the female seemed to be using the submarine for cover.

She would approach the bow and dive under the sub, while the males swam around trying to get at her. The crew did not immediately recognize what was going on.

The sub had left Lahaina Harbor at 2 p.m. for a 45-minute cruise. It followed the usual practice, inspecting natural coral reefs, then making a circle of the Carthaginian on the way home. When it became apparent that the whales were circling the sub, the captain maneuvered so the sub would drift away from the wreck of the Carthaginian and stopped just a few feet above the bottom.

After that, the show went on and on. Some of the approaches were very close, within a few feet. Walsh said the males seemed indifferent to the presence of the sub.

On board, the crew and some of the 32 passengers got out cameras and cell phones to film the close approaches. The crew had a digital still camera on hand, which they switched to video mode, but didn't have enough memory to film continuously. Plus, they had no idea how long the show would go on.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, the whales moved off, and the sub surfaced to meet its tender. Then the whales came back and milled around on the surface for another 45 minutes or so.

Walsh said that Atlantis has had some vivid encounters over the years.

"I've seen tiger sharks and dolphins and giant jewfish in the Caribbean and mantas and ulua chasing sharks - you'd think it would be the other way around. We have even seen dolphins showing behavior that even the scientists at the university had never seen or even heard of, but this was just incredible."

Walsh said it was obvious who the two main actors were: the female whale and the "big boss," the dominant male, who was blowing bubbles from his blowhole and sometimes from his mouth to signal to the lesser males that he was in charge.

Although the whales were "flying by," Walsh said the submarine was not in danger. The whales' presence could not be felt aboard the submarine, which is 65 feet long and displaces 80 tons. A big humpback whale is 45 feet long and displaces 40 tons.

The Atlantis submarine can carry 48 passengers. The whale encounter happened during spring break, so being three-quarters full was "OK," but business is definitely down, Walsh said.

Since the videos have gone up on YouTube, they have gotten more than a thousand hits, from people as far away as Sweden. Walsh says he has not received any calls that he can directly attribute to the whale videos, although he hopes the publicity will help business.

"That's the cool part" about the sub tours, he says. "You never know when you'll get the next great thing happening."

On the Net:

* Whales on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bahhNVb5fw

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.