2. Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Sea of Cortez, Isla Carmen

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Pelican and reflection, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> Photos of a blue whale, a pair of fin whales, a humbpack whale and pelicans can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/byYUxB">http://goo.gl/byYUxB</a><br /> <br /> Thanks for all you comments on the Sea of Cortez photos! It truly is an amazing place for marine wildlife.<br /> <br /> 06/03/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
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Pelican and reflection, Isla Carmen, Baja

Photos of a blue whale, a pair of fin whales, a humbpack whale and pelicans can be seen here: http://goo.gl/byYUxB

Thanks for all you comments on the Sea of Cortez photos! It truly is an amazing place for marine wildlife.

06/03/14 http://www.allenfotowild.com

Baja PenninsulaSea of CortezIsla Carmenpelicanreflection

  • Pelican and reflection, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> Photos of a blue whale, a pair of fin whales, a humbpack whale and pelicans can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/byYUxB">http://goo.gl/byYUxB</a><br /> <br /> Thanks for all you comments on the Sea of Cortez photos! It truly is an amazing place for marine wildlife.<br /> <br /> 06/03/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Humpback whale tail, north of Isla Carmen, Baha<br /> <br /> I couldn't decide whether I liked the colour version, or another, different, B/W version best. It can be seen here, along with other whale photos, and the photo of a photographer colleague: <a href="http://goo.gl/GvTXnp">http://goo.gl/GvTXnp</a>. Some of the other photos accessed via the link have explanations on how to predict where the whales will surface.<br /> <br /> For photographing whales the shutter speed should be fast (1/1250 to 1/2000) and the aperture should be closed down to f8 to f11. This means that the ISO will have to be raised. I was shooting mostly at ISO 800. Higher ISO will be needed at dawn and dusk when the light is lower. Also the focus needs to be on AF-C (continuous autofocus). Shoot at the highest frames/sec rate and pan with the movement of the whale. In some situations a slow shutter speed can be used to blur the motion of the whales, but getting a good shot this way is complicated by the movement of the boat.<br /> <br /> Humpback whales, as well as fin and blue whales, are baleen whales that feed by filtering krill from the water. Krill travels up and down the water column in response to temperature and light, and when the krill are deep, very few species can be seen. But when the krill is at the surface (cooler, darker conditions) then there is an explosion of life, with feeding frenzies occurring everywhere. More about this another day, but the whales seem to be attracted to the surface concentrations of krill that start the feeding frenzies.<br /> <br /> 5/3/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Water cascading off a humpback whale tail, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> This photo was taken just after the whale's tail cleared the water and the water was cascading off the surface of the tail in a waterfall.
  • Humpback whale surfacing for air, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> In this photo you can see the water flowing off the head of the whale just in front of the blow hole.<br /> <br /> It is challenging to actually get the front of the whale head when it is surfacing because it is hard to predict where they will come up. However, after the first blow,sometimes they travel in the same direction and blow two or three times in a row with only a short period of time in between blows. So it is easier to predict where they will surface. It is also easier to predict when the water is calm....the calmer the water, the more easy it is to see the whale just below the surface on the way up to breath since you can see the discoloration of the water and even their bow wave as they push the water before them. The longer they remain down the harder it is to predict where they will come up, since they often change directions or come up a long way away.
  • Humpback whale fin with notch and sea week, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> This hump backed position is the one you often see just before the humpbacks raise their tail out of the water to dive. Not all humped backs result the showing of the tail, but humpback whales show their tail prior to diving quite frequently and far more often than blue or fin whales, where it is very rare to see the tail.
  • Humpback whale blow hole, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> In this photo you can see the distortion of the water caused by the flow of the water off the whale's head in front of the blow hole.
  • Blue whale surfacing off the coast of Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> The blue whale is the largest animal ever known. They can reach up to 98 ft long and they can weight up to 200 tons. They feed almost exclusively on krill and the rich krill congregations in the Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto is what brings them to the Sea of Cortez.<br /> <br /> The turquoise colour around the whale is a typical sight for parts of the whale near the surface, and I used the appearance of the turquosie colour in the water to predict when the blue whales were going to surface.
  • Humpback whale surfacing for air, Isla Carmen, Baja
  • Pair of fin whales blowing off Isla Carmen<br /> <br /> Fin whales are the second largest animal in the world with lengths up to 98 feet and weights up to 74 tons. They are slimmer and faster than the blue whale and often travel in pairs, as seen here. The don't seem to life their tail out of the water when they dive.
  • Pelicans, blue-footed booby and a comorant, Isla Carmen, Baja (best larger)
  • Pellican taking off from the water, Isla Carmen, Baja
  • Close-up of a blue whale spouting<br /> <br /> One of the rare great privileges in this world is to see a blue whale up close. The blue whale is the largest animal ever known. They can reach up to 98 ft long and can weight up to 200 tons. They were almost hunted to extinction prior to their protection in 1966. Blue whales are baleen whales that feed almost exclusively on krill and the rich krill congregations in the Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto is what brings them to the Sea of Cortez.<br /> <br /> Strict regulations prevent boats from approaching within 250 feet of the whale in the Sea of Cortez, but if the whale approaches you then that's OK. We had some remarkable sightings that had even the professional Mexican photographers I was with as excited as children. When a huge whale surfaces near the boat and blows it sounds like a jet plane.<br /> <br /> Today I have posted a number of close-up photos of blue whales from several different angles. See here: <a href="http://goo.gl/Wjr6lR">http://goo.gl/Wjr6lR</a><br /> <br /> Usually the blue whales don't lift their tail when they dive, so we were very excited to see a number of dives where the tail came out of the water...stay tuned.
  • Blue whale spouting, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> When a blue whale is near the surface and the water is calm, the water turns turquoise. I used the appearance of the turquoise colour in the water to predict when the blue whales were going to surface.
  • Blue whale surfacing for air, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> Notice how the nose of the whale is making the water bulge up in front of the blow hole
  • Blue whale blow hole close up, Isla Carmen, Baja
  • Blue whale footprint, Isla Carmen, Baja<br /> <br /> As whales go below the surface, the energy from the movement of their tail creates a vortex that looks like a circular slick on the surface of the water where the water looks calm....called a foot print. You can see the calm water here behind the whale. Sometimes you can follow the direction the whale is headed from the series of round slicks it leaves on the water.
  • Blue whale fin and footprint, Isla Carmen, Baja
  • Blue-footed boobies and a dolphin congregating for a feeding frenzy, Sea of Cortez (best larger)
  • Blue-footed boobies in a feeding frenzy, Sea of Cortez (best larger)
  • Blue-footed boobies in a feeding frenzy with a few Brown pelicans, Sea of Cortez (best larger)

  • Tony Britton

    on June 2, 2015

    Beautiful photo, Terry. Your composition is especially striking!

  • Jaime Gonzalez

    on April 12, 2015

    Great shot!

  • johnchapmanphotographer

    on April 11, 2015

    Hi, SUPERB.

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