• Four humpbacks gather near our boat

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• Mating behavior for males includes slapping their 12-15 foot long pectoral fins on the surface.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• A mother teaches her baby proper tail-slapping techniques.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• A large male shows his flukes as he sounds directly under our boat.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• Humpbacks can power their 35-foot-long 35-ton bodies almost completely out of the water when they breach.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• Breaching may be a courting behavior – or perhaps the whales do it just for fun!

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• This huge whale landed on his back with a very impressive “cannonball” splash.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]

  

• Underwater, the whales move in a very graceful slow-motion ballet.

  [photo: Judith Hemenway]

  

• A mother and her baby cruise slowly past us at close range.

  [photo: Judith Hemenway]

  

• A mother and her baby cruise slowly past us at close range.

  [photo: Judith Hemenway]

  

• A svelte and beautiful juvenile surfaces for a breath of air.

  [photo: Judith Hemenway]

  

• A juvenile dives. This was one of three juveniles that stayed with us for two hours, apparently as curious about us as we were about them.

  [photo: Jon Fellows]