Yes these animals are incredible to watch. They are ultra curious and will swim right up next to the boat. yes I took them. Went Whale watching a couple of weeks ago. The bottle nose was the only one around at the time. he/she was playing in the bow wake as we motored out to the spot where the big guys are. I have some more just need to resize. Coming up shortly...........
There certainly is life outside of body building. Blink and you will miss all of its' wonderment and beauty!!! All of these pics taken at Hervey Bay Queensland Australia. Also courtesy of our friends from the deep and mother nature for turning on such a beautiful clear day. These majestic animals came so close you could reach over the back deck and touch them. But it is forbidden to do so by law........and rightly so!!! I am thankful for the pics alone!
The whales are so gentle and so graceful as they just seem to play in the calm waters. They come to this place because it is relatively deep and protected. Not many predators around so they migrate here to give birth and just take a vacation from the Antarctic. They breach for no apparent reason. But when they do it is most spectacular. The amonut of strength needed to bring almost the entire length of thier 40+ ton bodies into the air is nothing short of amazing.
That's Free Willy from the movie Awesome pics Dale. I remember few years ago, I went to Maui Island and went whale watching and hear there sounds through Sonar and it was an awesome experience and once in a lifetime experience too.
Yea it is a great camera. Makes a poor photographer look good.
It is a Nikon D80. I had a 70-300mm VR Zoom lens on for these shots shooting in sports mode. But the Whales were really only feet away from the boat. In normal shooting I use an 18-55mm VR lens with a polarizer on it. I was surprised there wasn't more glare coming off the water in these as my big lens does not have the filter. ( VR stands for vibration retardant) This really helps when you are being bounced around by the wave action.
You really can't describe the feeling of having a 40+ ton whale stare at you from the ocean. It is not scary at all, more like wonder and curiosity. Like they want to say something to you. There is real emotion in thier eyes when you make eye contact. Just amazing. You get the feeling that if you just happened to be in the water and were not agressive in any way they would not have a problem with that and would swim all around you. Incredibly gentle, agile creatures. They can surface without hardly disturbing the water and just slide back down into the depths with hardly a ripple when they want to. Yes it is an experience that will stay with you for sure.