Fisherman Cameron Ebanks and his friends got the sighting of a lifetime on Tuesday when they spotted a rare sperm whale in the waters off East End.
Ebanks, speaking with the Cayman Compass Thursday said it was “very cool, very nice to see something you don’t see often”.
“We tried to get as close as possible to see it,” Ebanks explained as he described the encounter which he captured on cellphone video.
The Department of Environment said it was “thrilled” to learn of the sighting and confirmed to the Compass that the whale Ebanks sighted was indeed a sperm whale.
“Sperm whales are occasionally seen migrating through Cayman’s offshore waters. Since 2008, 26 sperm whales have been sighted in the Cayman Islands and reported to the DoE,” the department told the Compass via email.
It added that its marine research team also spotted whales near 12 Mile Bank Wednesday “but they surfaced too briefly for them to take any photos”.
The department encouraged the public to report all sightings.
“The DoE collects data on abundance and distribution of dolphins, whales, whale sharks, manta rays, and other large marine animals around the Cayman Islands. This information is used to determine migratory patterns and assess the importance of our waters for these rare species,” the DoE added.
Ebanks, who owns Grand Time Watersports, said he has encountered whales before while out at sea, but to see a sperm whale was something special.
Special fishing trip
Ebanks said he took his friend, who was visiting from Dallas, out on his boat for a day of drift fishing when they encountered the whale.
He said it was his cousin Eric Adam who first spotted the whale’s movement in the water when they were off East End.
He said, at first, his cousin thought it may have been fish or a boat as all they could see was movement on the water’s surface and what looked like “smoke”.
The smoke was actually the spray from the whale’s blowhole as it came up for air.
“We pull up the lines and then I said ‘let’s go towards it’… We thought that was a drift so we ran towards it and then as we got closer, then he started breathing again,” he said.
He said they tried to get as close as possible and got the video of the whale.
Ebanks said they believe there were two whales, the other possibly being a calf, as usually the whales would be spotted in pairs.
Call to care for our ocean
Ebanks, who said he practically grew up on the water as his father Shervin Ebanks was a fisherman, said he has a deep love for the ocean and seeing the whale was a privilege.
He urged the community to love the ocean and take care of it so everyone can enjoy the marine life around the Cayman Islands.
“Don’t throw garbage in the water. Try to keep it clean as possible. When we are out drift fishing and I see a piece of garbage in the water and it’s close to the boat, I’ll take it out the water and put it in the trash on the boat and when I get back and throw it away on land. I try to do my part to keep the ocean clean,” Ebanks said, adding that others should do the same.
The DoE urges the community to report a sighting via email [email protected] or post in the DoE’s “Shark & Cetaceans: The Cayman Islands” Facebook group.
Related Videos
