The water of Chichi-jima (Father Island) in the Ogasawara Islands, at depth of 1,500-2,000meters, are known as a place where female sperm whales with their calves observed throughout the year.
Having said that, it is best to visit this area when the seas are calmer, usually from July to October.
In October, on a day when the conditions were favorable, we headed to the whale watching area off Chichi-jima. We were lucky to encounter a group shortly after we started our search. Each of the groups was made up of 3 to 6 individuals.
Then, we found a lone calf by itself, patiently waiting for its mom, who had gone for a dive into the deep sea.
The baby looks as if it is flying, with such clear water. The calf’s body was a lighter color, but it had the typical wrinkles primarily seen on Sperm Whales, along with some scars of bitemarks from the cookie-cutter sharks.
This young sperm whale, swimming upside down towards our boat, was so close, that we could actually hear the “talking” clicking sounds on our ship!
We could so clearly see the lower jaw of the whale!!!
We parted for a little, but then it returned, approaching the boat again. This time with its mouth open.
This is the calf with its mouth wide open. We could clearly hear the clicking sounds again.
Amazingly, it flattened its fins and rotated while swimming into the edge of the ship, making the suckerfish scuttle around. Perhaps this was an offensive ?
A sperm whale swimming towards the direction of Chichi-jima.
This young sperm whale also came up alongside our ship, raised its face and seemed to look up over at the top of our boat.
The youngster seemed to enjoy spending time with us and then, eventually left and swam back to its mother and the family.
In Ogasawara, you can see these groups of females with their calves, but I wonder if we could ever see a male that comes to have mate someday? It would be such a dream to be able to see a male sperm whale in such clear water like this!
Photo & text: Mariko SAWADA
Observation: Oct 2020, Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands
Special Thanks: FISH EYE
Tags: Sperm Whale, Wildlife of Japan, Wildlife tour in Japan, Sperm Whale in Japan, Bonin Islands, Sperm Whale swim in japan, Ogasawara Islands, Wildlife in Japan, Whale Watching, Whale Watching in Ogasawara, Whale Watching in Japan, Wildlife tour of Japan, Whale swim in Japan, Whale swim in Amami
