This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘White.’ See more responses here.
I’m going with this big splash of whitewater. But how did it get there? The splash was the finale of the sequence in the slideshow below.
Seeing this Humpback Whale in the air was a lovely follow up to the magical encounter, a couple of weeks ago, with a Humpback Whale in the water (here).
Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Geometric, for the curve of the jump and the shapes formed by it. See more responses here.
I saw these two Cushion Stars on the beach in Kawaihae Harbor. Cushion Stars come in a variety of shapes and colors.
Posted for Becky’s Squares: Geometric. See more responses here.
Sunday Stills challenge theme this week and last week is ‘Your 2024 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. As before, I’m going with a favorite photo from each month of 2024, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in. Last week, I posted favorites from January through June (here). This week, it’s July through December.
Yesterday, driving into Lapakahi Historical Park to go snorkeling, my wife and I saw a Humpback Whale, close offshore, doing multiple tail slaps. After we parked the car and headed towards down to the shore, the whale was still slapping its tail. By the time we had our gear on and ready to swim, it looked like the whale was done and heading south.
But, as we got in the water, I saw the whale heading north. We swam out, without any thought of seeing the whale. Chances were it would dive and disappear, or move on, or turn around again. But once out toward the edge of the reef, we realized the whale was hanging around and even nudging towards the shore. By this time it was doing fin slaps.
We had never been this close to a whale in the water and the sight of the huge fin reaching up and then slapping the water with a loud thwack was impressive. As we watched, the fins got larger. I dipped my head underwater and could make out the hazy shape of the whale, the first time I’ve ever seen one in the water. Eventually, the whale came into full view and paralleled our course for a few minutes before it eased away, though it remained quite close to shore.
The whole encounter was deeply moving, an end of year gift for us and another swimmer who was there. During that swim, we also saw three reef sharks and later, a pod of dolphins. It says something that those encounters, normally the highlight of any swim, felt anticlimactic!
The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 175. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.
Sunday Stills challenge theme this week and next week is ‘Your 2024 Year-in-Review.’ See more responses here. As usual, I’m going with a favorite photo from each month of 2024, with a caption and link to the post the photo first appeared in. This week’s post is for January through June. See the rest of the year next week.
The Humpback Whale season here has been underway for a few weeks, but I hadn’t seen many until a few days ago. Then, on one of my coast walks, I saw half a dozen or more.
This whale was in the company of another one, which had dived just before this. I like the curve of the tail and how the water drains off it, just before it’s full submerged.
The Blackspot Sergeant is a solitary damselfish which lives near the surface in shallow waters. They’re fairly common around here, but quite shy, so tricky to photograph. Coloration can vary, but the black spot above the base of the tail is ever present, hence the name.
Graham's Island 