Capturing the Moment

  A huge brown bear ambles past our group through the meadow. This bear was chowing down on grass as he slowly worked through the meadow. It is hard to explain the feeling of being on the ground, here in Alaska, and sharing that space with brown bears. All of us guides undergo intense bear trainings every season, as well as advanced wilderness medical classes every two years, so we can successfully and safely take guests out on adventures in remote Alaska. This coastal part of Katmai is about as remote as it gets. There isn't even another ship in sight as we set off on our small boats for the adventure of lifetime. I had twelve guests with me on our skiff, and they had heeded my advice that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices. They were waterproof from head to toe, which was good since the clouds opened up on us during the skiff ride to land. The rain let up quite a bit once we got to land, but the high grasses kept us wet. I led the group slowly, not w...

  A huge, 80,000lbs humpback whale leaps out of the ocean in a tremendous breach. I spent last week on a weeklong expedition cruise through the Hawaiian islands. One of my major focuses was on wildlife photography. I had my Canon 5d with an L-series 100-400 lens ready at a moments notice. And we scored. There were humpback whales, different species of dolphins, rare birds, then even rarer birds, octopus, and more. Check out the photos and descriptions and enjoy coming along for the adventure! The shallow ocean waters around the island of Maui play host to thousands of humpback whales every winter. They come to have babies and make babies. We think these breaching behaviors are part of their communication. Although perhaps just for fun. We can identify individual humpback whales using the unique white patches under their tail, which you can see here. There is an online database called HappyWhale.com, that you can upload your ID pictures like this to, and it will let you know if the ...

  Every winter, Humpback Whales arrive around the Hawaiian Islands for their breeding and calving season. If you get a chance to go out on the water and do some whale watching, you could be rewarded with some very interesting behaviors. I tell people there are three big goals while whale watching here; seeing a brand new baby whale, seeing a competition pod, and see a breaching humpback whale. Whale watching has been heating up here in Hawaii. The Humpback Whale migration is on in full force. One way to see it is to head out in a small boat from Honokahau Harbor near Kona, Hawaii. Babies are about the size of a small pickup truck, and they are born right here. The momma whales like the clear, calm, warm waters around the islands. The draw to Hawaiian waters must be pretty big, since the adult whales have no food here. They fast the entire time, and then head back to the food rich waters of Alaska when the need to feed outweighs the need to breed. Even though the babies are quite la...

  Things are hopping here in Southeast Alaska at the moment, and by 'things' I mean 80,000lbs humpback whales! Frederick Sound in the middle of the Inside Passage seems to be the place to be. At one point last week we were surrounded by the leviathins. However one whale stepped up to really steal the show. So much so, that at one point a whale swam under our bow and hardely anyone took notice because they were still watching the showoff. Whale Photos   Once or twice a year I come across a humpback who breaches over and over again. I talk about these rare occasions during my photography talks. These repetitive breaches are a photographeres dream come true. It is still quite hard to determine where and when they might breach next but they give you multiple chances and you have some idea of what distance away they might be. Eventually everyone on the bow was able to snap at least a few pictures of this great whale as it breached away the afternoon.    I oft...