The big …
While we have seen so many whales on our trip north this year, I’m still hoping for that ‘special’ shot of a whale breeching. We have seen some acrobatics, but way too far away. We’ve also had whales close, sometimes too close, but they’ve been simply heading north like us. We have plenty of time as the whale season is May to November with the Humpback Whales undertaking their annual migration from Antarctica along the Queensland Coast. Once they reach the warmer ocean, their baby calves are born.
On our passage from Magnetic Island to Cape Upstart (south) we were lucky enough to see a pod of four whales so close to our boat we could hear them. Our first reaction when this happens is to slow down and move away. The whales’ and our safety is utmost. This is sometimes tricky as the whales near the boat often dive under and don’t resurface, so it’s often a wait and see moment. We should not be closer than 100 metres from a whale.
When we saw the four whales they were moving together through the water over 100 metres away, but they gradually got closer. We slowed down, then stopped, as they crossed our path and returned to the direction they had come from. This gave me plenty of time for some photos. Mind you, our boat was bobbing around so much, it was tricky focusing. I think I took over 200 pics, but only kept 20 or so.
The small …
The butterfly forest on Magnetic Island is a treat. The Blue Tiger and Common Crow butterflies were often asleep so it was easy to step in close with the camera. A simple shake of the tree and the butterflies were all around. I was more interested in playing with my macro setting on my cameras so I was quite happy to watch them rest.
