Freediver hitching a ride on a Beluga Whale

[lottie]

Hitching a ride on a Beluga whale's back, a daring diver glides through the icy waters of the Arctic.
In an extraordinarily rare encounter between a human and this beautiful giant of the deep, the white whale is perfectly at ease with her new companion - and even appears to be smiling.
Which is just as well - as no one really knew how the Beluga would react to human company before Julia Petrik made this dazzling dive.
[...]
The incredible pictures were shot beneath the pack ice in Russia's White Sea, where a pod of the magnificent Belugas are being studied for a conservation programme.
Miss Petrik is an expert free diver and is able to hold her breath for minutes at a time. This avoids the need to use bulky scuba tanks, which release bubbles that can disorientate the whales.
The lack of kit also gives her more freedom to move and synchronise her movements with the whale. The only downside is that free diving in icy cold water takes a heavy toll on the diver's respiratory system.
Julia Petrik had to saw through more than a foot of solid ice just to reach the freezing water below and wears a thick rubber suit to guard against the extreme conditions.
Beluga whales - the name is Russian for 'the white one' - can survive here because they are able to use their powerful bulk to butt through the ice to breathe oxygen, before submerging once again into the abyss.
Their domed foreheads contain a waxy substance, thought to be involved in their ability to communicate.
They 'chatter' by whistling to each other - so much so that sailors and fishermen call them the 'sea canaries'.
Divers can spend weeks searching for Belugas in the wild, but some of the whales are being kept in a large netted enclosure to be studied.


Daily Mail Article

[The Publisher]

That looks cool!