Whales in Alaska

MooreDriven · July 13, 2010

I thought I would share a few shots from my recent cruise in Alaska. We booked the Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Watching trip in Juneau. I wasn't expecting to see more than a few whale tails and maybe some dorsal fins. We were fortunate the whales were very active on our trip.

Let me know which is your favorite. C&C are also welcomed.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Dale

dlplumer · July 13, 2010

Nice series.

I like the last one the most. How much reach did you have?

MooreDriven · July 14, 2010

I was using my D300, 1.7 TC and a 70-200 mm. I wish I had more reach because most of these images are cropped.

Thanks for the comments.

Candid Arts · July 14, 2010

You got an Orca Breaching... That's pretty rare around those parts. What company did you use for your tour? I grew up in Juneau for 23 years, worked with Four Seasons Marine for a few years. I'm guessing you went with Allen marine? Looks like you got a good show. Quite a few breaches and fin slapping... Definitely lucked out and got a better show than normal.

MooreDriven · July 14, 2010

I don't recall the name of the company we used, but they were a large outfit with several large boats to accommodate the cruise ship customers.

We were very lucky. There were several pods of Orca's that were jumping. I would guess there were two or three adults jumping and many of the younger ones trying to follow suit. The guide narrating told us that they had never seen an adult Orca jump out of the water like that, much less multiples on the same day.

A few days later, we got to see some dolphin's jumping in the ships wake. As the ship got closer to their location, you could see the dolphin jumping in the distance, heading toward the ship. You could tell they enjoyed riding the wake. Here are a few shots I captured.

I like this shot of one swimming below water while his friend is jumping a wave.

I like the reflection of this shot.

NorthernFocus · July 15, 2010

Really nice shots. You were lucky indeed with that much activity. We've seen humpbacks dozens of times but usually just rolling. Have seen distant breaches.

#1 is the best image IMO. Good tail shot