Photo copyright Dwayne Edward Rourke 2004

Ann Mortifee and I went out in our kayaks for sunrise on New Year's Day 2004 and encountered a humpback whale. We first encountered it from a few hundreds yards away. It was breathing intensely and regularly whilst staying perfectly stationary in the water. It was its HUGE BREATH that alerted us to its presence. Otherwise we might have mistaken it for a floating log as most of its body was submerged.

We approached carefully, not in fact realizing that it was a whale until we were within 20 or 30 feet from it. As Ann got closer to its head, even breathing in its fishy breath, I swung around behind, taking this photo as it prepared itself for what was a stupendous dive.

Enjoy!

Dwayne

 

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