A glassy day and some whales were breaking out on occasion in the distance:

There was a mother floating on the surface for quite a while and two boats in near her. I paddled over to get a better look. When I got in closer, I could see the calf swimming around her and now and then, the escort would surface for air. The pod was stationary and hardly disturbing the surface calm. All of a sudden, the calf got rambunctious and lurched at the mother. She in turn made a quick lunge in the water. The people on the two boats shouted and hooted and I don't know if this got the whales further in the mood but all of a sudden the escort came up right in front of one of the boats with a breach! Shutter lag of the point and shoot camera allowed me to capture the splash which totally hides the boat just behind it:

I zoomed the lens in to about normal viewing angle and another missed breach shot:

And another! :-(

Many more missed breach shots with mom, calf and escort at it and then the mother got into doing some pec slaps and then tail slaps while the calf continued to work on its breaches.

I finally realized that if I depressed the shutter as soon as I saw a head break the surface, I would likely at least catch the whale out of the water. Not necessarily at the apex of the breach when it starts its twist but better than another splash shot!

I missed some incredible shots due to the shutter lag but it was certainly quite a great show for those of us out in the water and after returning to the beach I found many had enjoyed the show from there as well. It was so still on the water that you could hear the whales breathing even probably a mile away. The tail and pec slaps were loud and the crack of the breaches was certainly heard over a great distance.