Whales!

[BogMonster]

Fine afternoon yesterday so we left work early and headed for the high seas for a look as there are supposed to be whales about. We hung around for ages and only saw a single blow but on the way home nearly ran through the middle of a pod.

Taking photos of Sei whales blowing is about as impossible as taking photos of dolphins jumping (lots of shots of snaps and tail fins) but here are a few of the better ones of them at the surface.

Beautiful, serene, and bloody huge when you are 20-30ft from a 20 odd ton whale in a 3/4 ton RIB - we didn't get too close as they were weaving all over the place and the thought of one surfacing underneath us (we weren't sure how many - think there were 3 or 4) quite a long way from home was enough to encourage caution got a couple of "large returns" on the fishfinder which might have been kelp beds but was enough to increase the heart rate a bit as was the characteristic "row of holes in the water" caused by the wash of the tail - especially when it comes past the boat a couple of dozen feet away!

After a while I gave up on the photos (which were taken from further away) and we went in a bit closer and spent a while just following them and watching from a safe distance behind them. My first close up whale encounter since getting the RIB and a very special experience

[three-rex]

Me? jealous, Oh no, not at all

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by three-rex

Me? jealous, Oh no, not at all

You said it.... Fantastic shots~

[jyasaki]

Nice pics, Stephen;

We were out following a couple of greys in the middle of March. To be fair, it was a couple of greys and about 4 whale watcing boats.

I gave up on trying to take whale pics, as all I ever got were numerous pictures of a black sliver on top of the water. Despite all the reports of breaching humpbacks around our area, I've never seen one.

jky

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Fine afternoon yesterday so we left work early and headed for the high seas for a look as there are supposed to be whales about.

Superb!

[BogMonster]

An alternative version of one of the original images

Don't know how anybody can hunt them

[Clipper]

"Don't know how anybody can hunt them" welcome to Australia's frustration, the Japanese exploit a loophole in the whaling convention and kill thousand of whales out of an Australian-Antarctic sanctuary, these whales travel up and down the Australian coast twice a year, it is really sad to imagine how many have been killed for the so called lethal research. Awesome creatures, got to swim with a female humpback and her calf 2 years ago, still very vivid in my memory.

by the way nice shots

here is one uw shot of the calf and her mum

[Lets go boating]

thats a dream to see one like that nice pics

[BogMonster]

The oggin is a bit cold to do that here but I'd love to see them underwater. Though I also need to learn to dive first

[andreworiordan]

was working in a house in crosshaven today and took this photo!

[Bigmuz7]

I had an experience off the Summer Isles in Scotland recently I wont forget with a Minky, as usual I didnt have a camera, but I had my neighbour who lives there.. I dont. Neither he or I had seen anything like it.

Basically, we got circled ..it surfaced beside us on the starboard side first, then reapeared on the port doing the same then in front of us on the bow, then behind us on the stern .. We could see atleast 12ft before the dorsal fin and about 8ft behind I knew it was a Minky but I was scared shitless by the girth across its back as it was right next to us.. it bared about 6 feet left to right .. after this it dissappeared for about a minute then came at us a mid ships and dived under the boat. I was on the key ready to move at this point, but my neighbour suggested we stay as he suggested they are really nosey.. It reappeared from the other side, dived under us but this time hit the bottom of the rib, and we felt it,.. so we started the motor and left I can honestly say that was a seriously scary moment I just wish I had the pics.. he might have been playing , but I can tell you it wasnt fun for us