Beluga whales want to play

clipped from groups.yahoo.com These remarkable pictures show how beluga whales help human visitors to swim under the thick ice. When dive teams drill through the frozen surface of the White Sea off the north-west coast of Russia, they are greeted by grinning belugas. Under the water two belugas lead a diver by delicately taking his hands in their mouths and pulling him through the icy darkness. Photographer Andrey Nekasov, 38, from Odessa, Ukraine, visited the White Sea - off the Barents sea on the north-west coast of Russia - which is popular for spotting pods of the all-white swimming mammals.   Some of the whales in the area were formerly captive but reintroduced to the wild after being rehabilitated.  Curious by nature, the whales greet dive teams as they cut dive holes into the thick Arctic ice by popping their heads out.    Ice to meet you: The whales swim to the surface to greet the divers 'It's like they are beckoning you in to come and play.'