A Surprise Whale Watching Trip

We were returning from Tonaki yesterday on the fast boat, most people asleep or sick. Only Emina and I were healthy and not tired, just sitting staring off the back of the boat. Suddenly Emina yelped and pointed - she had seen a whale tale flip out of the water off the back of the boat. Then we saw it again, and again. A worker on the boat ran up to the bridge to let the captain know. My prayers came true and the captain turned the boat around. We arrived after the whales dove, but they came up within about three minutes and this was their first showing:

[I photographed a breach on my first ever whale watching trip two years ago. Since then I have been on 12 consecutive breachless trips, until yesterday]

[there were three whales and they were pretty playful]

I think we saw about five breaches in the fifteen minutes we hung around. It was amazing.


That picture above is almost my dream shot. A sunset in the background would complete it. The framing could be nicer, as well, but I purposely shot this wide angle so that I could achieve my desired result by cropping - I can make a photo smaller, but not bigger: