In March 2021, marine scientist, photographer and filmmaker Gaelin Rosenwaks carried Flag #29 on her expedition to Dominica to study and film sperm whales for Finding Physty, her film about a young male sperm whale that she met as a toddler when he was stranded and kept in captivity for nine days in a boat basin in Long Island, NY. Her project focuses on the interactions between young whales and their mothers, aunts and grandmothers in an effort to understand where Physty should have been when he found himself ill and stranded, and where he would be now, 40 years later, after being released back into the wild. Female sperm whales live in matriarchal groups that stay together their entire lives, with the males staying with their families until they are in their teens when they leave to roam the ocean.

This trip to Dominica, where there is a resident population of female sperm whales, is the third in a series of Gaelin’s expeditions to reconnect with these incredible animals. “I wanted to understand the family dynamics of sperm whales and once again meet them eye to eye,” explains Gaelin, who was able to get in the water with these giants under a strict government permit. “Our timing was also important because our previous expeditions had been in the Fall, but this one needed to happen in the winter so that there was a possibility of seeing a large male whale. Physty would now be a large mature male sperm whale and it was important for me to attempt to see the animal Physty would be today.”

Learn more about Gaelin’s work at Global Ocean Exploration Inc.