When Herman Melville published Moby-Dick in 1851, it told the story of a giant “white whale” as a dangerous, vengeful beast. The novel was inspired by real events, like the whaleship Essex being sunk by a sperm whale. The book left many people believing sperm whales were naturally aggressive toward humans. For decades, they were feared as “monsters of the deep.” I still see that fear linger on today as my guests are usually way less interested in swimming with sperm whales than other marine life