The majority of photos currently in this section are taken in Alaska where a big focus of the trip was spending time with humpback whales.
As is often the case, my favourite memory was impossible to capture using a camera. We were in a bay on a warm, sunny day, surrounded by 50 or more humpbacks. It was so relaxing and difficult to take it all in, listening to the sounds of them blow, the sight of them surfacing and occasionally breaching.
The selection below show some of the whale, bear, otter and eagle sightings we enjoyed. I hope to head back again one day and also add to this section with trips to new places in the world.
Enthusiasm. A grizzly chasing salmon at 1/50th of a second.
Facing The World. A humpback off the coast of Alaska.
Bath Time. A lone sea otter relaxing.
A Tall Tail. A flock of phalaropes fly past a diving humpback whale.
Taking Stock. This was an amazing spot which is only accessible by boat or seaplane and has a limited number of visitors each day. Your protection from the bears are two logs, which the bears know not to approach..... Probably scary for some but an incredible experience and let's be honest, the freshly caught salmon will be better tasting than an aged human! The river was well stocked and whilst some of the experienced bears made easy pickings, others were given the runaround!
Where Eagles Dare. We went out into the bay on zodiacs to explore the local environment. Sat on some rocks was a magnificent bald eagle. He was indifferent to our presence and sat there for some time. Eventually he decided to make his way and effortlessly glided into the air.
Gold and Black. A humpback whale tail in the final rays of sun.
Flossing.
Standing Proud. A grizzly showing its strength.
Catching The Light.
Sea World. The only world they should know. Before I went to Alaska I had only seen orcas once before, a long distance from where I was and I still have some blurry shots that only I know are orcas! Here we were so lucky to spend over an hour with a pod on a hunt, successfully taking a seal at the end.
Shake It Off. A successful hunt, taken at 1/60th of a second.
Let's Twist Again. I love how the water sprays from the humpback's fins as it twists through the air.
Leap of Faith. This bear was a pretty poor fisherman, but what he lacked in technique, he definitely made up for in effort!
Entangled. A river otter amongst the sea weed.
And Relax. One of the most amazing afternoons where we were surrounded by 50+ humpbacks and this crazy one breached more than 15 times in a few hours. This was right next to the boat and is full frame. It comes to something when you're deleting breaching whale photos a day after the first time you've seen it happen.
Eat Your Greens.
Blow My Mind. I'm a fan of backlight and finding humpbacks in this light was incredible!
Nosey Parker. This little bird (a Galapagos mockingbird?) was fascinated by its reflection in my lens and kept flying into the lens hood to take a look! Taken on the Galapagos Islands.
A Dream. Snow monkeys (Japanese Macaque) were another species I really wanted to see after watching David Attenborough documentaries. I managed to see them on a trip to Japan, and it was fascinating to see them interact and the very obvious heirachy in place, where only the higher level monkeys got to sit in the naturally hot springs. It was quite hard to watch when in fact there was more than enough room for all of them! Taken near Nagano, Japan.