This holiday was organised by Captain Gene Filpse, of Conscious Breath Adventures, https://www.consciousbreathadventures.com/. The Silver Banks are about 80 miles off the Dominican Republic, in the Atlantic.
When whale watching from a boat, you only see a small part of the whale (unless it is breaching); but encountering them underwater is really amazing, you appreciate just how enormous they are.
Our boat moored on the Silver Banks reef for a week, and we had eye to eye contact with Humpbacks every day; an absolutely mind blowing experience. Some of the encounters with Humpbacks lasted for several hours. The calves were only 1 to 2 months old; the mothers were a little wary of us at first, but later allowed the calves to approach us closely. They were very inquisitive and swam all round us, although they had miles of sea to explore. It was my first attempt at underwater photography.
Humpback Mother and Calf; the mothers come down from the Arctic to mate and give birth from January to March in the warm, shallow waters of the Silver Banks.
Nature and Travel Photography in 3D 