Whale watching in Muroran

Assalamualaikum w.b.t (Peace be upon you)

One of the activity you can found only in Muroran is the whale and dolphin watching activity. Species of dolphin and whales available are as follows: 

Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)

Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

Dall's Porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli)

Free Willy star - Killer whale (Orcinus orca) Beluga whale

white whale (Delphinapterus leucas)

Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena).

The trip began at 10:00 after a simple briefing about the safety on board, the Do's and Don'ts blablabla......we board the ship named Beluga, commandeered by an Ainu descendant captain. It was a small boat and the day was rainy. We boarded the small congested cabin of the boat and off the port. The trip was a bit slow as the sea was quite rough and the wind was a little strong. We bumped up and down countless time and some of us got seasick...yeah, she vomited into the sea. Ahhh...wish my camera was ready at that moment lad!

It was harder than I thought to look for a good spot to watch the dolphin or if we were lucky, whales jumping out from the sea. The captain said, we have to look for a spot where birds gather. Chances to find dolphins or whales are higher. We then came to the first spot. It was frustrating. Not a single glimpse of dolphins were there. We waited for about 10 minutes before continuing the search for dolphins.

About 15 minutes later, the captain announced, he spotted another spot. This time I really hoped the dolphins will be there. Finally, all the waiting and seasick were paid off when the dolphin appeared and swam around our boat. Alhamdulillah, I gained another XP for my life! That was my first experience watching dolphins at close range. It was enjoying watching them 'racing' (if you get what I mean). The weather was just perfect. Not too cold, though it was cloudy that day.

That day really tested my quick-photo-shooting skills. (Don't look for the term). To shoot fast-moving objects, in my case the dolphins, you must be prepare yourselves to press the shutter-release button at any moment. This means, forget about saving the camera's battery. When the dolphin popped out of the water, you only have about three to four seconds for a good shot. For this kind of shooting, it's better to use burst mode. This is the best part in using the DSLR, not DS1M. Ok, aku tau memang tak lawak. Burst is a mode in a camera mostly in DSLR. In this mode, several images  can be captured with one press on the shutter. This is used mainly in mixed-light conditions or when the subject is in successive motion. The photographer can then select the best image of the group or arrange them in a sequence to study the transitions in detail.

By the way, all the pictures above are credited to wikipedia and the original photographer. Mana boleh kalah macam ni. I got some pictures too.

Nah. Thanks to those birds for the "ahh... so realistic and alive" effect on this pictures.

p/s: I really hope to take a shot like one in the Free Willy movie. ahhh...really love that movie when I was a kid.