If aliens were like our whales, for example, there isn't going to be much communication anyway. No civilization, no technology, no dwellings, clothing, artifacts, or any significant culture. No effective strategy to outsmart predators. Aliens mainly devoted to eating, finding a mate, procreating and fooling around.
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.
— Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", Chapter 23.
Curiosity and a desire to explore the unknown might bridge that gap. We after all are quite fascinated by whales, by the idea of living in the sea, and we even here are having a discussion about what it might be like to think having only ever existed in that environment. Whales may be similar. They know of land; they know of people in boats.
I guess I am suggesting tourism as a motivator.
EDIT: adding - I don't agree at all with that predator outsmarting point you made. Aquatic mammals often have quite complex techniques for hunting and evasion.
