Day 23

Whales !
After breakfast, I went outside on the ship deck to take pictures of the rising sun, and suddenly I saw two whales swimming ahead of the ship. Unfortunately, I had my normal lense on, so the whales where barely visible on the shots I took. I was thinking : "do I change my lense and risk missing them, or do I watch and get only disappointing pictures ?" I decided to switch to my zoom lense. Luckily, the whales reappeared and came closer to the ship. They followed us for about 10 minutes before turning away. I took loads of shots ! Below are some of the best sequences. But before, I would like to show this cartoon I had seen earlier in the book Antarctica - A guide to the wildlife, by Tony Soper :


The characteristic features of Minke whales are the insubstantial blow (contrary to that of the fin whale, which can reach up to 6 meters), and the fact that the tail does not come out of the water when they dive (contrary to other whales). Look out for these features in the sequence below :





Now, viewed from behind, as the whales were turning away from the ship :




I can't believe how lucky I was, to be at the right place at the right time !
If I could be as lucky with a killer whale before the end of this trip, I would be blessed...