Tag Archives: pelagic trip

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Ron LeValley was on a pelagic trip out of Fort Bragg when he spotted a Blue Whale. In the first photo the Blue Whale is surfacing.

Here you see the tiny dorsal fin. Since the Blue Whale is believed to be the largest animal ever to live on earth, it's rather ironic that the dorsal fin is so small.

The tail is big though!

What a thrill this must have been to be so close to this huge Blue Whale!

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with  you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

 

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Ron LeValley went on a pelagic trip out of Fort Bragg. He, and the others with him, did not see many birds, but they did see two Blue whales quite close to their boat. In the first photo, the whale had just spouted. And in the second photo the big whale is descending.

blue-whale-off-fort-bragg-by-ron-levalley blue-whale-came-close-to-our-boat-by-ron-levalleyTo see a Blue whale, the largest creature of them all, is incredibly exciting. Here are three photos Ron took a few years ago, also on a pelagic trip. The first shows you a blow, the second shows the Blue whale's tiny dorsal fin, and the last shows you a Blue whale's tail.

blue-whale-spout-by-ron-levalley a-blue-whales-small-dorsal-fin-by-ron-levalley blue-whales-tale-by-ron-levalleyUnless you are at the Farallon Islands/Cordell Banks, you are not likely to see more than two Blue whales at a time. They very rarely breach, like Gray whales and Humpback whales do; they are just too big.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Ron LeValley was on a pelagic trip off of Fort Bragg when this Humpback whale spectacularly breached.

Humpback Whale offshore from Fort Bragg by Ron LeValleySummer is the time we are more likely to see Humpbacks, but they have been seen in greater numbers off the California coast this year. Here is a photo Ron took on a previous pelagic trip. The Humpback came up right next to the boat and was looking at him!

Humpback Whale looking at me by Ron LeValleyI sure would like to know what the Humpback was thinking when it saw Ron and his camera.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

Ron also has a near-daily photo email list you can subscribe to and, just like mine, it's free!