Out today with the Churashima Research Center taking pics from their research boat. A much happier occasion than photographing the carcass of a whale that had died and then washed up on the beach.

We were in the waters of the coast of Motobu not far from Sesoko Island. We saw around 20 whales in total, but it was the first mother and calf pair that were the star performers.

The whales slapped the surface with their long pectoral fins, and perform breaches before crashing back down onto the surface of the water. 

Pics shot with the Pentax 645Z and a 300m lens. Used a monopod to take the strain off my arms.  Shot at ISO 400 so that I could use shutter speeds between 1/2000 and 1/4000 of a second.