2009.07.06 02:48:39

Administrator

Yesterday we had our first double breach of the season! They are very very rare to see! Last season i remember only 1 double breach close to the boat and a couple in the distance.

It happened in the last minutes of our trip. That particular pod had not been very active before, so again: always expect the unexpected. I actually cant belive how lucky i was to get pictures of that double breach. Luck is a very big part of what i do, because there is no warning what so ever if whales decide to jump, but in this case i have been even more lucky:

Just a second before the whales were jumping i was tracking a Gannet on full zoom ( a bird =) shooting down in the water for some prey. So i didnt see what was happening around that bird because i was looking through the viewfinder of my camera.

After the gannet hit the water ( me shooting at 10 pics a second ) i took the camera down and saw the beginning of the double breach just a touch to the right of where the gannet was diving. I started shooting and just as the 2. whale was touching the water ( not quite in sync that breach, what a shame =) my battery died!

So if you imagine the gannet diving a second later or the whales jumping one earlier, i would have missed the whole thing because i would have been focused on the bird. Or if i had taken just 10 shots more before, my battery died i would have missed it as well... Usually i have my batteries charged before every trip, but when i checked the day before i thought i had enough for the day ( might need to buy a new one.. )

so i rushed to my "workspace" got my other camera just in case there would be some more action, but nothing else happened...

To tell you the truth: i dont really like those pictures. Usually when there is more than just one thing happening next to each other ( like a double fluke up dive, or double breach ) you are forced to zoom out quite a bit to get both in the picture. By doing that you get way more water and sky in the shot than just a single whatever were you can zoom in close...

In this case there also is a biggish wave in front of the two jumping whales, making it look less impressive. Never the less a double breach is still breath taking when you are on the boat yourself, its just that the pictures are not living up to that experience. Dont get me wrong, im happy i got it, but im still waiting for that perfect double breach. maybe tomorrow =)

2009.06.30 07:53:12

Administrator

Today we had an AMAZING albatross encounter! The best i had so far on the boats.

There have been around 3 Albatross fighting for a rather big fish. taking off with it, fighting in mid air, dropping it, all that sort of stuff right next to the boat and infront of my camera.





I dont know if I want to admit that im a "birdo" (how do i spell that anyway?) but birds really look amazing when they are doing stuff like this. But on the other side its always nice to help you guys out if you are interested in sea birds and have any questions about them. There is always at least one "birdo" on the boat (did i just admit im one of them? maybe..) to answer what ever you would like to know.





We also had two jumping whales close to the boat today, for shots like that check our  Whale Sightings page.

2009.06.25 23:11:02

Administrator

Quoting our highly valued colleague James who is living at the northern beaches of Sydney: "where the sun always shines and the beer is always cold"...

He might be right about the beers - we have plenty of them in our fridge on the boat for you to enjoy - but not so much about the sunshine.

There was a week full of rain not to long ago. basically not a problem at all, because all of our boats have a roof. Nothing worth mentioning you migh think, but think again!

Not all whale watching vessels operating out of Sydney are blessed with this essential item.

I wont give away any names here, i will just point them out the next time you see them freezing in the open. Or wait a minute, that might be a problem because they tend to stay in the harbour if there is a bit of rain...

To bad, because we do see whales being a little bit more active when the weather is not as nice as we all like to see it: Whales jumping non stop or rolling around on the surface to feel the raindrops on their skin. Or at least thats our theory... we dont really know why they do any of their surface actions, but its nice to see from our air conditioned cabins =)

On the other side Im the one who has to be outside to get those shots for you because obviously i dont want to shoot through glass, so usually i get drenched all the time. Thank god im used to weather like this coming from Germany, haha. Not a single day in long pants i might add here =)



Some precautions have to be made to my camera, though. The main camera im using is a 1d mk iii which is weatherproof, the lens ( a 100-400mm ) is not! so im usually covering up my lens with a bag ( going to subway before the trip does the trick! ) It still is a little bit annoying though because its almost impossible to keep your lens clean from little raindrops or seaspray. So my advice to you: leave you camera in your bag, let me worry about rain and buy my CD at the end =)