Thursday, October 16, 2008

Whale watch

The whales continue to make their way along the coast and when we're in the unit, we keep an eye out - way out. The two whales shown here - one fin, one part of indeterminate origin - are captured with a 12x optical zoom - so they are a long way away. It is still a huge thrill to see the splash and then watch for them to surface again. So why do whales breach? Is it courtship behaviour, play activity or barnacle removal? Experts seem divided on the reasons, but it's good that whales do breach otherwise it would be nigh impossible to spot them.

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