What amazing creatures! A couple years ago, Joan and I went out on a sailboat with an old guy on Maui. He said, "You wanna photograph some whales, huh?" The way he shuffled in his walk, I was concerned he might not survive the trip. When we got out in the channel between Maui and Lanai, we dropped the sails, and he went below. We saw a few whales in the distance, but nothing close enough for a good shot. When the old guy came up, he had an old wooden box. I watched as he took a microphone out of the box... "Oh, great, karaoke?" I thought. He hooked a couple wires to the microphone, clipped them to what looked like an old mini-Heathkit contraption, and tossed the microphone overboard. Now what? A few seconds later, we were listening to whales singing. OK, that's cool. He listened a bit, then said, "One's gonna come up over there."
"Right," I didn't say it out loud.
About 20 seconds later, up popped a whale right where he said. "OK, old dude, you've got my attention!"
I'll be darned if he didn't listen and say, "This time it'll be over there." This time, I had my camera ready. Got some great shots!
The size! The power! And you can look in their eyes and see that they're looking back at you. We've heard them singing when diving and snorkeling... no question about the intelligence and emotion they possess.
Love the photos you posted - thanks! :thup
Best wishes,
Jim B.
