Humpback Whale Photography Trip

Over the last ten years, the west coast of British Columbia and especially the Queen Charlotte Islands have seen a huge growth in humpback whale populations. From mid April to June, when the water is still cold and the krill are at the surface, large numbers of humpbacks feed in the in-shore waters around Gwaii Haanas. Although there is a chance you will see these majestic creatures anytime of year, the large groups of lunge-feeding and tail-flicking whales tend to disperse in late May to mid June.

The Moresby Explorers Ltd. is now offering a specialized early season trip designed for photographers, both professional and amateur, who have a keen interest in getting some great whale shots. We will spend our days aboard one of our Hurricane Zodiacs searching out and photographing humpback whales in the area between Louise Island and Burnaby Island. Although we may have a chance to visit some of the abandoned Haida Village Sites and the hotsprings, we will be spending most of our time aboard a small open boat, possibly in windy and rainy conditions. We will spend the nights in our warm and comfortable floating lodge with great food and a world class view. The lodge has enough electricity for loading photos on laptops and charging camera batteries.

This season, on our advertised Humpback Whale Photography Trips, Isabelle Groc, a professional photographer and journalist will be on board. Although Isabelle does hope to get a few good shots of her own, her first priority is to help you get the best possible photos. Isabelle's website is www.tidelife.com. As well as evening discussion sessions and photo critiques, Isabelle will be available to answer your questions any time. All the photos on this page were shot by your boat driver and guide, Heron Wier, during the 2010 whale photography trip. Heron shoots Canon and Isabelle shoots Nikon so between the two of them, they can answer almost any technical question.

Itinerary
Day 1: We pick you up at the Sandspit Airport at 15:00, when the Air Canada flight comes in from Vancouver. We drive to Moresby Camp, a little more than an hour down the logging roads, where we keep our boats. Here we load all our gear into one of our Hurricane Zodiac Rigid Hull Inflatables and boat for about one and a half hours to Crescent Inlet, arriving at the lodge at dinner time. After dinner we will have our orientation and get our gear sorted for the next day.

Day 2-6: After a hearty breakfast we hop in the Zodiac for a full day (8-10 hours) of shooting. Our primary target will be the humpback whales as they feed on krill and pilchards, but we can also break up the days with sea lions, migratory birds and inter-tidal life. Travel time from the lodge to the whales is usually between 10 minutes and 45 minutes. We will take a short break in the early afternoon to have lunch on the beach and stretch our legs. In the evening we will head back to the lodge for dinner and photo critique.

Day 7: After breakfast we will pack all our gear, load the boat and head back. We will arrive in Sandspit in time for the Air Canada flight back to Vancouver.

We would like to note that it is illegal to harass marine mammals. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has set up whale viewing guidelines which include not approaching or positioning a vessel closer than 100m from a whale. Although the whales are welcome to approach our vessel, and they sometimes do, we will abide by the guidelines.

How you should dress:
Because we use open boats it can be very cold and sometimes wet. You should wear warm, layered clothing, preferably synthetic (like fleece) or wool, and if possible avoid cotton as it is very cold when wet. We suggest you bring all the warm clothing you have as you can always leave some in the van if your guide thinks you have to much. You should also bring a warm hat, sunglasses and gloves.

You may bring your own raingear, but we also provide heavy raingear and gumboots for everyone.

Although we do have some covered storage on the boat, your photography gear should be in waterproof cases or bags and you are fully responsible for keeping it dry.

Gear List:
We have very limited space on the boat, so all your non-photography gear should fit in a daypack.
-Warm clothing
-Warm hat
-Sunglasses
-Gloves
-Bathing suit, Towel, Sandals (In case we end up at the hotsprings)
-Water bottle
-Change of clothes
-Personal effects
-Photography Gear
-Binoculars (optional)
-Snacks (optional)
-Alcoholic beverage (to have with dinner, optional)
-Gratuities (If our staff exceeds your expectations, optional)

Schedule 2012