Close en counters
Here I am, floating in the Atlantic, 55 miles from the nearest land. Buoyed by a wetsuit and breathing through a snorkel, I gaze down through a mask into the aquamarine ocean at a mother humpback whale and her calf cuddling up to each other. From where I am it looks as if they’re holding hands and I can’t believe they are allowing me to get this close. I am mesmerized.
The Dominican Republic is known for its whale-watching experiences but usually the tourist boats leave from the port town of Samaná, on the north-east coast, about 125 miles from where I begin my trip. The friendly cab driver who has picked me up from the airport in Puerto Plata asks what my plans are and seems perplexed when I tell him I’m going to the Silver Bank to see whales. He glances back at me. “You mean Samaná Bay?” No, I insist: “Silver Bank, Banco de la Plata.”
The Silver Bank (Banco de la Plata) in the Atlantic between the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos owes its name to shipwrecks in the area and, more – a galleon loaded with silver that sank here in 1641. Since 1986 it has been designated a nature reserve, but its biggest claim to fame is as a breeding ground for humpback whales.
