With large rorquals… in the rain!

We wait for the humpbacks to return after they dive to forage. And then they resurface… One blast, two, three, four, five! Wow! The five whales have regrouped! I’ve never seen that before; how awesome! And hearing their powerful blows is absolutely unreal! I need to calm down, as I have to concentrate to take quality photos and adjust my camera according to the brightness. I have to take the photos just at the right moment when they dive, as the colour pattern on the underside of their tail is the key to identifying them. Just like birthmarks, these black-and-white patterns are unique to each individual.

They take another dive, this time for about 10 minutes. While waiting for them to resurface, I dictate the details of my photos into my voice recorder to facilitate data analysis back in the lab. In the meantime, we begin to see dark clouds to the northeast and the wind and waves slowly start to pick up as well. The captain then informs us that we will soon be leaving the observation site.

All of a sudden, two blasts! Two new humpbacks have just surfaced near the boat. The naturalist tells us that this will be the last observation. I hope they will dive to show us their tails, but the rain is falling a little harder now. I wait patiently with my camera, which I have wrapped in a scarf to protect it from the rain. And then they dive! What luck! I manage to get a couple of good shots despite the inclement rainy weather.