photo nelly

Whale Parade

Taken from the lanai of our ocean front room at the Sheraton Maui Resort, using my 300mm telephoto lens.

 

Our first encounter with the whales in Maui was in April '08. We weren't expecting much in the way of activity because it was the very end of whale season, in which whales from Alaska make their journey down from the North starting in October. We were pleasantly surprised.

While we had gone on a whale watching cruise with the Pacific Whale Foundation, this photo was actually taken from our lanai in the room at the Sheraton. It started with just a few sailboats that had congregated together in the distance. And then, without much notice from where I was standing, small spouts of air and water starting shooting up.

Not long after that, there began a chase from a the left of the of the hotel and north parallel with the shore. It only lasted about 3 minutes, but at the time I took this photo, there had to be 5 or 6 whales swimming away from the trailing boats.

I was using my 300mm telephoto lens to get this close of a shot from where I was, but I wish I could have been closer. Next time, though, I'm upgrading my gear to at least 400mm, if not more with an extender add-on. I can only imagine how amazing it had to have looked from the vantage point of people on one of those boats.

 

Things to Note

This all happened on one of those lazy Saturday afternoons where we don't normally do much but sit back and relax in Maui. I was out on the lanai writing for my Maui blog and Cindy was spending the afternoon down by the pool. She missed the whole thing! I so which she could have seen it, too. In any case, we're going back in February, which is the peak of whale season, so I'm sure there will be even more of these moments to share.

While it did only last for 3 minutes or so, I was pretty exciting. Not only did I have to race inside and grab my camera (luckily the telephoto and polarizer were already on it), I also had with me my digital camcorder and a pair of binoculars that I had brought with for stargazing. I must have switched between all three at least twice in that short period of time, both trying to capture the moment and also just relishing what I was seeing.

You can watch the video (and hear my reaction) on YouTube and also read more about the details at the Whales on Parade entry in my blog.