Whale Watching Adventure

We left Montauk at 6:30 p.m. on August 14th, headed to the Great South Channel, out in the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was crappy, so we went to the Stellwagen Bank, instead. We returned at 10:30 p.m. on August 16th. Between those hours, we saw over 100 distinctly different and identifiable humpback whales. The ocean was just teeming with 40-60 ton animals. It was awesome!! They breached, slapped, bubble fed, blew, and just swam. What amazing and alien creatures! I never quite realized how alien before this trip, even though they are mammals. The trip was with a research vessel associated with CRESLI. Following are a few images.

Those are, incredible. Excellent works. Great timing. Got any more?

I agree with Marty. Great captures. I'm jealous . . . Again!


Jim

I shot about about 2,500 frames in the two days we were on the water. The weather was dicey, and there were times when the boat was pitching in 7-10 feet swells. Honestly, I was wondering when the Coast Guard was going to be called to rescue us. And, because I was holding the camera, I was bracing against the railings with my body. Needless to say, I was ridiculously bruised by the time the trip was over. Lots of images were compromised by movement of the boat, and the skies were not bright, so shooting a faster shutter speeds was difficult, at best. We just fired away at full capacity, sometimes frustratingly filling the camera buffer and forcing a few seconds of down time during critical times. But, I was thrilled with what I got. I was thrilled to be out there. I happily deleted over a thousand frames. Stand by. I'll post a few more.

A few more:

All I can say is wow.....

Hey Diane,

These are really awesome - shots to be very proud of. Very well done!

James

Thanks, everyone. For those who may be interested, these were all shot with a Nikon D300, a Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS, and a Sigma 1.4X TC. Sometimes, the whales were too close for that lens setup. I brought my Sigma 50-500 OS, but it never came out of the case. I suppose focal length would have been better, but hand holding that sucker would have cost me way too many images. That lens is for tripod use, only.

Great images, Diane, of some incredible animals. Thanks for sharing. Now, I'm really jealous .

Jim

I love every one of these! Thanks for sharing.

Really enjoyed these, thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Polly

I've been on 2 whale-watching trips so far, and can't wait to go again. Great work Diane!

Those are some really great shots.
I experienced some whales while visiting Hawaii a couple of years ago, we never were as close as you but my wife and I did scuba several days and were treated to hearing the whales singing on every dive.

Great story-telling in your images! Lovely!