Capturing the Moment

  Our kayakers and small boats hanging out with thousands of feeding sea birds with whales surfacing in between them. We were offshore from Castle Cape, taking advantage of some unusually calm offshore waters. One of the best parts of expedition cruising, is the amount of flexibility that you have to change the schedule and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Earlier in the week we spontaneously canceled the evening presentation in order to load up our small boats and go skiffing in the middle of the ocean with fin whales. The sea conditions were so calm, and the whales so plentiful, that we had to take advantage. Today we pulled into a bay that we had never been to before. Its name is Hook Bay, named after a big rocky spit with a big bend in it. Since we have never been here before, my coworker Christian and I took a small boat out in the morning before breakfast to scout out different landings and hiking areas. We found a few places that looked great from ...

  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 ...

  It is a real treat when the weather conditions allow us to get into kayaks and paddle around this old shipwreck. The typical weather here in Hawaii has vanished, replaced by a staunch wind from the south. This makes our usual places to play a bit choppy and difficult. But, if you know where to look, it can open up some unusual spots that we don't usually get a chance to explore. One of these is shipwreck beach, off the north side of Lana'i. Located in the north shore of the island means that shipwreck beach is exposed to the large north swells, and the funneling trade winds through the Pailolo Channel, between Maui and Molokai. It is these forces that sent the YOGN-42 up onto the shallow reef here in the first place. The YOGN-42 is a concrete gasoline barge built for the Navy in 1943. It was intentionally grounded after World War II as a cost-effective method to dispose of the vessel. This barge is often mistakenly referred to as a Liberty Ship, but it is actually a fuel tank...