After working on Pico, the Azores, for three years, I assumed I had seen my fair share of what this small island had to offer. Yet nothing prepared me for one of the most memorable few seconds of my life.<\/p>\n
I was filming a natural-history documentary, focusing on changes to Pico Island\u2019s community, following the whale hunting ban in 1984.<\/p>\n
Preparing for the shoot was a laborious process, especially obtaining a permit to film sperm whales underwater.<\/p>\n
As so often on these expeditions, the first week brought little success because the usually azure waters were thick with plankton. There was no lack of whales \u2013 humpback, sperm and blue were seen daily with spray from their blows filling the horizon \u2013 but the visibility was so poor we couldn\u2019t observe anything, even from 5m away. <\/p>\n
On the last day of filming, I knew I couldn\u2019t go home empty handed and had to capture some footage now the visibility had improved. At our filming location, the water was 2km deep \u2013 if a cetacean wanted to vanish, it could.<\/p>\n
The skipper manoeuvred the vessel and I jumped into the cold water about 100m in front of approaching sperm whales, hoping one would get close enough for me to film it. Swimming slowly, I could hear the marine giants but couldn\u2019t see them.<\/p>\n
The clicks of their sonar were so strong I could feel them reverberating throughout my body. Suddenly, a 40-tonne bull appeared as if from nowhere and sped towards me. I quickly angled my camera in front of my body like a shield, preparing for the impending impact.<\/p>\n
For a split second our eyes met \u2013 it was an immense creature, exuding intelligence and a quiet serenity that touched my soul.<\/p>\n
As it passed mere millimetres from my body, the cetacean released a massive cloud of excrement that covered me head to fin, filled my snorkel and turned the water a dark brown.<\/p>\n
I surfaced and let out a string of exuberant profanities to the hilarity of the crew on the boat. This messy moment was thankfully followed by a cleaner encounter with a mother and calf later in the day.<\/p>\n