It’s time to wrap up my humpback whale season for this year. It’s been another productive and fantastic season — so many whales, lots of friends, and learning more about humpbacks.

Perspective is an editorial column I write regularly for FiNS Magazine. This installment is entitled “The Art of Science”:

お盆の時期と重なり１４人の大グループだった。色々な事が起きてクジラスイムの日程が少なくなってしまったが、皆んなが大人しい母親と遊び好きの子クジラと長時間、また連日一緒に泳ぐことが出来た。
恵美子が撮影したビデオを見てください。

Southern-hemisphere humpback whales tend to have white or whitish bellies, which makes them easier to spot both in and above water, and arguably makes them more photogenic than their northern hemisphere counterparts, which tend to be black/ grey over most of their bodies.

It’s been about three weeks so far that I’ve been in Tonga…only a few more to go. Whew.

今週は風向きが変わって、クジラ探しが困難だった。ピークシーズンの中、沢山のWhale Swimmingボートが海に出ていたが、クジラと泳げたのは僕たちのグループだけだった。運がよかった。

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from fellow underwater photograph Mark Strickland saying that he was arriving in Tonga soon! A couple of emails later, we managed to work out the logistics and hooked up.

Here’s a picture of a fluke from konga hiku, which means “half tail” in Tongan. She’s a female who seems to appear every 2-3 years.

It’s been a really productive couple of weeks so far, with decent weather almost every day. We’ve had a few days of strong winds recently, which has kept us from some areas the whales frequent, but that hasn’t prevented us from having incredible encounters.

今週はすごく運がよくて毎日クジラと遭遇した。親子や若いクジラをいっぱい水中で見ることが出来た。

My good friend and terrific underwater photographer Eric Cheng joined me this year in Tonga for a few days. I meant to post a bit about him much earlier, but I’ve been so busy with whales, boats, cameras, friends…it’s been impossible to find a free moment.