I've been diving for 11 years, and have yet to dive near whales. I've gone diving in Monterey, Ca, several times, but never when whales are around. To hear that in real life would be AWESOME.

One of the things that fascinates be about sound under water is that, contrary to what one of the narrators seems to be saying, to humans anyway, it's omni-directional. It travels about 4 times faster than in air, and we cannot process the sounds fast enough, nor detect the damped difference in volume between what each ear hears, to determine the direction of a sound. This can make it difficult to keep track of your dive buddy in low vis environments- you don't realize how much you rely on sound to keep your situational awareness in the real world!

I always love ocean diving because of the "perfect surround sound environment" that the crackling sounds the shrimp claws snapping shut, rocks clacking together, etc, make. It seems to come from all around you.

I also like diving because I get to pretend I'm Darth Vader when I breath through my regs! j/k...

MrPex