Our guide says the whales usually stay on the surface for short stretches, only about 15 minutes. Then they vanish for up to 45 minutes as they dive thousands of feet in search of squid, their primary food.

In the meantime we can view and photograph the whales leisurely. It gives us time to pay more attention to whale's distinctive blunt head, which contains spermaceti, a white waxy substance once highly prized for making cosmetics, ointments and candles.

An estimated one million sperm whales were killed before their hunting was banned. Today, somewhere between 20,000 to 100,000 remain, spread throughout almost every ocean of the world.

Our whales appear restless, a sign they're about to dive. Then one of the animals begins its dive, revealing a hump and a series of bumps along the ridge of its back.

Sperm whale prepares to dive

And then the whale gives us the universal whale sign of
goodbye . . . see whale tale 6 . . .

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