wagsalot Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Anyone else been whale watching and have pictures to share? We went today and saw two, but only got photos of one. It was quite far out, so these were taken at full zoom and hand held. Whale 1 by shellandriley, on Flickr A crop of the above Whale Crop 4 by shellandriley, on Flickr This one makes me laugh - they guys seems totally oblivious to the whale behind him Whale Crop 6 by shellandriley, on Flickr Theres more on my flickr page if interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kja Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 What fun! I haven't been out yet but they are happily swimming up the coast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Online Pets Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Thats something ive always wanted to do but never quite got there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) This is the first year I've got there - I've been trying to go for the last few weekends but the weather has been bad. There was people there with good set ups - deck chairs, tables, eskies, telescopes, crackers and dip etc! Im hoping to go back next weekend and hopefully see some more. The whiteboard said 41 whales had gone past today - they can be very hard to spot though! Edited June 19, 2011 by wagsalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Nice to see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Great shots, I have not got any whale shots yet this year! Had some awesome ones last year. To me some of them look surreal, like the boat one with the whale in the back ground, I have some of my dogs playing on the beach with the whale behind them. The hugeness of the whole thing kind of freaks me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Saw lots of people looking on the coast today, but no whales in sight. We usually see them at some stage, but so far this year have been unlucky. We did a whale watching cruise 2 years ago, but the weather was yuck and they weren't doing much so we only got photos of their backs. We saw some on the way out to the Great Barrier Reef a few months later. Apparently whales galore in tropical waters at the right time of year. I would love to see the Southern Rights in their breeding grounds off southern Australia, but it's Aboriginal land and so you have to get permission to go out and look. It was the wrong time of year when we were going through there. They stay very close to shore with their calves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 the bloke in the boat looks like he might be on the phone. "nah mate, nothing here, it's dead today" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted June 20, 2011 Author Share Posted June 20, 2011 the bloke in the boat looks like he might be on the phone. "nah mate, nothing here, it's dead today" When I zoomed in on the photo, it actually looks like he's drinking a stubby of beer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) I went out of Sydney last October when the whales were heading back down the coast to Antarctica for summer. The water in Sydney is a very dark blue compared to Hervey Bay. I saw whales in Hervey Bay almost a decade ago, they approached the boat then. The whales in Sydney weren't interested in interacting, I think they just wanted to head home for summer. I'm yet to get a shot I'm happy with so I'll go again this year to try and get better ones. I did love it though as it's challenging to try and take a sharp enough shot with the boat lolling about in a swell. These were taken with a 300mm lens Humpback tail Humpback calf breaching A beautiful albatross decided to cruise by the boat that day too Edited June 21, 2011 by Ripley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 There's a group that does regular pelagic birding trips out of Wollongong. Some great photo opportunities for albies and other sea birds. I had a rubbish camera when I went, but I think we'll do it again sometime. It was a great day and OH got to hold a shearwater. It didn't throw up on him, so he was pretty chuffed with that. They caught a couple of albatross and brought them onboard to measure. Seeing them close up makes you realise just how freaking enormous they are. If you go at the right time of year you can see whales as well. There are usually dolphins. I have a friend who used to go a lot before he moved away and one time he saw a pod of Orcas. Wow! There's another group that does pelagics out of Eden... or it might be the same organisation. Apparently you get a better chance of seeing some cool marine life on that one. Every now and then they do 2 day trips. I don't think I could handle 2 days on a little boat on the ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Wow great shots Ripley - Im hoping we will have a free weekend to get down to Sussex where my OH's parents are - they quite often go out on the boat fishing and see whales - Id love to be able to get closer shots than the ones I got from the cliffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) Thanks Wags. Hope to get better shots this year if more than 2 show up this time There's a group that does regular pelagic birding trips out of Wollongong. Some great photo opportunities for albies and other sea birds. Seeing them close up makes you realise just how freaking enormous they are. There is a guy who runs a Cat out of Sydney too. His name is Hal. He leaves from Rose Bay wharf at 7am the second Saturday of each month. Lots of birders do this as well as wildlife watchers from all over the world. It's not a big boat but perfect for the trip as it's a fast cat. He goes 2-2.5 hours off the coast to the continental shelf. I did his pelagic birding trip in Nov 09 and would love to go again this year. Here are a few pics of what we saw, corvus. Yes, they are bloody big birds out there and so majestic. Fortunately we had calm, sunny conditions. Saw cape petrels and a wandering albatross too Black petrel Juvenile albatross - not sure what species - Royal? Black Brown? Adult Albatross shearwaters off the back of the boat and a pod of Sperm Whales showed up on the pelagic bird trip too - but they were pretty shy and all I got was the tail as one of them buggered off - very quickly! eta: Here is the pelagic boat trip that departs Sydney each month. If you look on their site they list Orcas as well as other whales that can be seen. It's just a fun day out - I went by myself and everyone is nice and friendly. http://www.sydneypelagics.info/ Edited June 21, 2011 by Ripley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 Whales are so unpredicable We were watching for about a hour and a half and saw nothing, then went and had a icecream, came back and were sat down for about 5 minutes when I got those shots, then waiting another 40 mins and nothing after that. I was lucky to get those shots as the whale only came out of the water twice - that and im still very new to learning the ropes with the 7D. I might have to a bird watching trip, OH would like it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Beautiful photos Ripley. If I remember rightly, you owe us some photos, a few months ago now, might be 6 or more you went out in a boat I think, you might have had new equipment, lens or camera, I cant recall, but I'm sure you said when you got back that you took tons of photos and would edit them and then post them here. well.....................???? ....................... have you edited them yet? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) I think they were the batch of whale pics I posted up first, kirislin. However, the other shots looked better on the back of the camera and didn't make the cut when I uploaded them - I deleted the majority as I can't be bothered with processing time with shots like that. My 50D was new then (got it last August) and it was the first time I had tested it. The shots of the sea birds above were taken with a 30D. Same lens for all those pics Edited June 21, 2011 by Ripley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 There is a guy who runs a Cat out of Sydney too. His name is Hal. He leaves from Rose Bay wharf at 7am the second Saturday of each month. Lots of birders do this as well as wildlife watchers from all over the world. It's not a big boat but perfect for the trip as it's a fast cat. He goes 2-2.5 hours off the coast to the continental shelf. I did his pelagic birding trip in Nov 09 and would love to go again this year. Here are a few pics of what we saw, corvus. Yes, they are bloody big birds out there and so majestic. Fortunately we had calm, sunny conditions. Saw cape petrels and a wandering albatross too Cool, I didn't know that you could do them from Sydney harbour. We went with SOSSA: http://www.sossa-international.org/Pages/Front%20Pages/TripDates.htm They have a small boat that isn't that fast, so it takes about 2 hours to get out there, then they putt around for about 3-4 hours catching birds, and then they head back again. It's $100 for non-members. We went in September 2008 and have been meaning to do more ever since. OH wants to go in the winter to see jaegers. But maybe we should try Hal's trip to compare. Gorgeous photos! What size lens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 All taken with a 300mm f/4 prime. The trips out of Sydney are for viewing. There were birders there who went up top and stayed there and some UK tourists with big lenses. They do throw fish heads in the water to bring the birds in but it's observation only. There was a marine biologist from Macquarie Uni on board when I went and he and a colleague jumped in the ocean to take photos of the sperm whales. They snorkelled up to them (the boat kept its distance as required by law) and he said he got a few shots (he had a DSLR with full underwater kit) but the whales weren't accommodating and swam off pretty quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Meant to say I think your adult albie is a Black-browed Albatross. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBL Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 There is a guy who runs a Cat out of Sydney too. His name is Hal. He leaves from Rose Bay wharf at 7am the second Saturday of each month. Lots of birders do this as well as wildlife watchers from all over the world. It's not a big boat but perfect for the trip as it's a fast cat. He goes 2-2.5 hours off the coast to the continental shelf. I did his pelagic birding trip in Nov 09 and would love to go again this year. Here are a few pics of what we saw, corvus. Yes, they are bloody big birds out there and so majestic. Fortunately we had calm, sunny conditions. Saw cape petrels and a wandering albatross too Cool, I didn't know that you could do them from Sydney harbour. We went with SOSSA: http://www.sossa-int...s/TripDates.htm They have a small boat that isn't that fast, so it takes about 2 hours to get out there, then they putt around for about 3-4 hours catching birds, and then they head back again. It's $100 for non-members. We went in September 2008 and have been meaning to do more ever since. OH wants to go in the winter to see jaegers. But maybe we should try Hal's trip to compare. Gorgeous photos! What size lens? I have been meaning to do a SOSSA trip forever! I am slightly concerned that I will spend the whole trip throwing up though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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