With whale season coming to a close I decided to paddle out off Mala Wharf because the water was relatively smooth and in a wind shadow from the strong trade winds. I had seen a whale out by the wind line but no false hope that I would actually have any encounter once I got out there. As luck would have it though, I did spot a calf on the surface a few hundred yards away and when it came up again in about 5 minutes time, it was closer to me. I slapped my hands on the wave ski to make some noise and hoped it might instill some curiosity in the whales. The calf surfaced again and this time probably only 25 yards away. It swam in my direction and then dove down.

I hadn't seen the mother and with them likely now close by, I slapped the wave ski some more to make sure they heard me and were aware of my presence I anticipated the calf showing up again just off my bow based on the ground it was covering between surfacings. I was anticipating and hoping for a close head shot above the surface if the calf were to come up and I was ready with the camera set up for surface shots (80 mm lens).

Of course the calf did not surface right in front of me. I heard water move and blow behind me and quickly looked over my shoulder to see that mom had surfaced with the calf about 20' behind me. I rotated the wave ski a bit and set down the one camera and grabbed the other camera housing that has the under water rig (16mm lens) as well as a video camera and housing mounted on top of it. I put it in the water and then remembered that I needed to turn on the video so I lifted it out and turned on the video and put it back in the water. The mom and calf had come back towards me and hooked in for a closer look. I pressed the shutter on the still camera a number of times and got some decent shots:

(Note: Since initially posting this web page, I have gone back and removed some of the flare spots present in the one image above using Photo Shop. The other images have not been so altered.)

Fortunately the sun was at my back as they hooked back and circled around me so I was able to see them through the water surface and guess where to aim the camera for a while. I lost them as they swam further with the sun now reflecting off the surface and no visibility below. I set the UW camera rig back on the deck and grabbed the above surface rig in time to catch some final shots of them on the surface and then diving with the calf exposing its tail.

The video was on wide angle but it is not as wide as the 16 mm lens on the still camera. My aim was reasonable but as you can see in the short video, it would have been better had I been underwater and aiming the camera while actually viewing its display. Shot from the hip as it were:

The video & still rig for UW:

On the way back in to the beach, I snapped a shot of the Hula Girl anchored for snorkeling with her sister ship, Shangrila on her mooring, inshore some: