Living among whales

Kim Beddall is one of the most prominent humpback whales experts and undoubtedly the person with the most knowledge of the humpback whales of Samaná. She has been living here since 1983 and it was due to her that the rest of the world realized that these marine mammals came each winter to this bay.

I have made an appointment with Kim on a Friday in the summertime, when Victoria Marine, her company of organized excursions to see the whales, is almost always closed, given that the whales are still in the North. She arrives with American punctuality with an assistant and a stray dog, while there are other "viralatas" (stray dogs) waiting for her near the office. Her love for animals is embodied in many aspects of her life. She greets me with a kiss; she is a charming woman, with the physique of an athlete and serene blue eyes full of life. She sends Martin to buy potato chips and a diet coke, she says that she needs to eat something salty… but she does not eat them, due to my presence I believe, I made her talk too much and she finally decides to drink a regular coke with all its sugar.

Kim, why did you come to Samaná how did you begin to work with the whales?
I arrived 22 years ago and came as a diving instructor for the Caracoa Hotel. The local fishermen told me that there were whales that came to drink the fresh water of the river. I went with them to get more information and when I realized that they were in fact whales, I was intrigued and started asking myself many questions: what kind of whales are these? Why do they come here? How do they get here?… I had the desire to go to the sea again to be able to find an answer to all these questions, but I didn’t want to take a “yola” (small raft), I wanted to spend all day in the sea. It was too expensive to rent a big boat on my own so I thought about finding other people to share the costs and this is how I organized the first whale watching excursion: it was a little unscripted, but that day of winter in 1984 there were 60 tourists that signed up.

Are there any studies under way about the whales of Samaná?
The Center of Coastal Studies of Provincetown, Massachusetts undertook a study called Jona Project that lasted from 1986 until 1992, taking photos of identification of each individual, trying to establish its journey, gathering data on its density and DNA. But the main objective of the project was to find out more about the group, the social behavior of the humpbacks whales. Then there were seven continued years of disinterest, where there were no studies done, and it wasn’t until 1999 when the CEBSE, a non-profit organization regrouped all the marine transport companies to this end: the Navy, Tourism and Environmental Ministry, all united for the development of Samaná and for the protection and appreciation of the whales, promoted the revival of the study of the humpback whales of Samaná. Each day, during whale watching season, all the data concerning their behavior and location is gathered, photographs of their tails are taken to be able to identify them. In fact, anyone can participate and since last year we are inviting tourists and those passionate ones to join with us in our objective to have more data and the possibility to know more about these fantastic animals. It is very simple, all you need to do is take a photo of the tail of the whale, which is the only part of the body that allows a positive identification of the individual, write down the date and hour when the photo was taken and if possible, if the ship has GPS, the latitude and the longitude (coordinates) of the place where the whale was seen.

What are the main difficulties in your work and what gives you the most satisfaction?
The season is very short, starting approximately on January 15 to March 15, and the ocean conditions are not always ideal, some people get seasick, the Samaná Bay is not an aquarium or closed park, is the ocean, although relatively protected by its structure. I continue to be in love with my work because there’s great satisfaction in seeing how much the people enjoy the excursions, how thankful they are for having the opportunity to see these immense critters. In fact, it is a very intense experience, some people cry of happiness. Therefore, I can consider myself very lucky, people infect me with their enthusiasm and I still have the same passion of the very first day.

What are the characteristics of a whale-watching excursion in Samaná and what are the main differences with other excursions of the same type in another part of the world?
I have had the fortune to do an excursion in the Gulf of May in Massachusetts and it really is a totally different experience. The ships are a lot bigger, with a capacity for 600 people; this makes the possibility to relate to the animals a lot less intimate. Nonetheless, the experience is also unforgettable, the whales are of a different kind and the fish are also of varied species. Also, in the north, the whales only go to eat and they are occupied doing this all the time. On the contrary, in the Samaná Bay we can observe humpback whales that will not eat anything during their stay, they only come here to mate and give birth and it is only here that one can observe the males courting the females and how the whale calves learn to jump. The chance to see whales jumping is 99% with Victoria Marine in the Samaná Bay. This percentage is so high due to the fact that all the humpback whales are, from May to September, in the north, in the May Gulf, in Iceland and Greenland and get together during mating and reproduction season in the Dominican waters between the Samaná Bay, the Banco de la Plata (across Puerto Plata) and the Banco de Navidad (between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, deep sea).  Besides, here we are lucky enough to be able to go see them in our shorts and t-shirts…

What has changed from the beginning until today?
I have an average of 40,000 tourists in about 70 days of duration of each season. The interest toward the whales has grown a lot and there are people that come just for that. Clearly, my work has also changed; at the beginning it was more unscripted, now Victoria Marine (Kim’s company) has become the most important and better organized with evident advantages for the tourist. Until 1990 I was the only one that organized this type of excursion, now there are many more companies and organizations. But I want to emphasize that whale watching is a true possibility to save the whales and not have to restart the fight against countries that insist on hunting them. Occasionally, there are negative opinions and even articles that say that the excursions to see the whales are very annoying for the mammals and that we should learn to let them be. But things are not always as they appear to be on first impression. Since 1992 the hunting of whales has been forbidden and a World Association for their protection has been created for all the countries interested in their protection to join. The Dominican Republic, unfortunately, has been excluded due to lack of funds to pay the mandatory annual dues. Each year this association opens for consideration and voting on the possibility of allowing the hunt of whales again. In 2004 the voting was close and the hunt was almost allowed. Although the majority of the people are convinced that this problem is completely resolved and that the hunt of the whales is a purely historic question, the reality is very different. Japan is still very interested in hunting again and already has threatened to leave the Association and to do whatever they want. Their main motivation to hunt whales is for their meat, since the Japanese diet consists mainly of fish, and the whale meat seems optimal, is very appreciated and expensive, consequently very interesting in the commercial level. The whale watching is the only possibility to combat with equal commercial force the ones pressuring for the hunt, is the only way that all countries visited by the whales continue to have interest and that they continue to come and that tourists from all over the world continue to come to see them.

The most peculiar thing that happened with the whales of Samaná.
It was last year, exactly on February 16, when some fishermen called me to tell me that a whale was dying. We went to see and there was a young whale that was seriously injured, supposedly as a result of a rope that had trapped him and immobilized the trunk and tail. The body movement and the panic had caused the rope to tighten so much that it had caused cuts about 10 centimeters deep. The whale was motionless in the water with the tail out of the water, as if expecting to heal or die. Each day we would go see it and would always remain in the same motionless position. The first time that I saw it, I wasn’t too optimist regarding its condition, but, the following visits showed us that the whale was improving. On March 2, 2004 we found our friend in the company of another young whale, who seemed to have come searching for him to undertake the trip to the north. Both started jumping all around our boat, as if they were giving us a good-bye show. It was very exciting.

I look at my watch and realize that I have taken over an hour and a half of Kim’s time and I’m about the miss the last guagua (bus)… I have to go, thanks Kim, thank you for everything. On the way home I think of all the things I have learned and how nice it would be that more people would have the same passion in what they do, as this woman has, sowing good humor and enthusiasm.

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