Saved by a Humpback Whale
5/13/202646 min
An incredible mystery plays out beneath the waves. Marine biologist Nan Hauser is an expert in the behaviour of whales. One day, in the breathtaking surroundings of the Cook Islands, Nan is shooting footage for a nature documentary when a 45-tonne humpback comes charging towards her. In seconds, she’ll find herself picked up and swept along by the enormous creature, balanced on the tip of its vast jaw. What on earth is happening? And how can Nan hope to emerge in one piece? A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Joe Viner | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Matt Peaty | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJohn Hopkins· Host0:01
[waves crashing] It's September the 14th, 2017. In the South Pacific, just off the coast of the Cook Islands, a shadow lurks beneath the waves, the dark outline of a massive creature. [water gurgling] In the greenish gloom, it's hard to gauge the animal's true size. Parts of its immense body remain shrouded in darkness, while others catch the shafts of sunlight filtering down from the surface. The effect is of something too big to comprehend at a single glance, so unfathomably large it must be taken in piece by piece. The sharp pectoral fins, the dark unblinking eyes, the broad sweep of its humped back. The creature moves slowly but deliberately, powering itself through the water with swift rhythmic swishes of its tail fin. Its attention seems to be fixed on something in the murky distance, on someone.
Nan Hauser· Guest1:10
The question of danger is very real. When I first started working with them underwater, I [laughs] was pretty scared. You don't realize how big they are until you're right up next to them.
John Hopkins· Host1:25
63-year-old Nan Hauser kicks her diving flippers