How can swimming with humpback whales help protect the ocean?

Can swimming with whales and ocean conservation really go hand in hand? Tracey Croke goes in search of an answer during a close encounter with the ocean goliaths in Queensland, Australia.

“LOOK DOWN!” a voice screams with disbelief.

I quickly scan the bobbing heads around me. The voice belongs to a man a few meters away, whose popped eyeballs are staring at me from the void of his snorkel mask.

I try to decipher my fellow snorkeler’s cartoon-esqe expression. Fear? Excitement? Disbelief? I decide it’s a combination of all three and dunk my face into the ocean.

With heart in throat, I float motionless; a powerless piece of plankton above two bus-sized omnivores. You could park a Volkswagen Beetle on each tongue. My brain auto-uploads the moment into a memory bank labeled ‘mind blown’.

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