After investigating the large arched iceberg at Booth Island we continued on our Zodiac cruise looking for marine mammals. The Zodiacs are in constant radio contact with each other and the bridge of the ship so there are many eyes to locate animals and give directions toward sightings. Our first marine mammal was a Leopard Seal resting on a snowy patch on a small rocky island and we gradually approached up to the edge of the rocks but the seal was completely unperturbed and completely ignored us and appeared to be sleeping. This didn’t offer any decent photo opportunities as eye contact is crucial to an engaging animal photo. I kept an eye on it over the stern of the Zodiac as we headed away and was rewarded with a shot as it raised it’s head to see us on our way.

Our next sighting was a pair of Crabeater Seals wrestling in the water with another seal resting nearby. This again was a good lesson on keeping a close watch on the animals as we headed away as one of the Crabeaters repeatedly porpoised high out of the water to keep watch on us as we moved off. The animals seem completely undisturbed and unthreatened by us but are clearly very aware of us and keep a watch on our movements.

Our next mammal sighting was an Humpback whale and calf feeding. There were a number of whales in the area and had a number of sightings but seeing the  mother and calf together was special.

All photos with Nikon D810 and 24-120mm f4 VR. This was an excellent combination for the Zodiac being relatively compact but with great performance from wide angle for landscape and with the the high resolution of the D810 allowing cropping of 120mm images to achieve plenty of telephoto reach for animals