They say it’s more the journey than the destination and this was certainly true when travelling to a dive site recently. On our way to The Rock, one of Pure Ocean’s top dive sites, we had a once in a lifetime encounter with a pod of three Humpback whales – we could have turned around and come home without having dived and still had smiles on our faces! September to November is whale watching season in the waters around Samoa, as the whales make their annual migration into the southern oceans. We were surprised to find them so close to land though; they kindly allowed us to get a birdseye view of them before it was time for us to go diving. An amazing experience for those on the boat and some very envious dive centre staff when they returned with the story!