The Traveling Widower

Category: Camera gear

  • A trip to Moss Landing – Whale Snot and Otters

    photo of a sea otter in Elkhorn Slough

    The problem with choosing wildlife photography as a hobby, is that you invest a lot of $$$$ and time in the pursuit of perfection. For humpback photography, you are hoping for spectacular shots of whales flying through air, closeups of their eyes, or group photos of lunge feeding. My dream opportunity would be to photograph them underwater….I’m still working on that one. The problem with going out on most of the commercial tours in Monterey Bay, is that the vast majority of what you’ll see are whales spouting and diving, since they are primarily packing on blubber for their migration to Mexico in the fall. If you are lucky, as I was last April, you might catch them doing all the amazing things you really want to see – breaching, tail slapping, pectoral fin slapping, lunge feeding or coming up to the boat for people watching. That does happen quite a bit. The whales do like to have some fun. But the hit-or-miss opportunities here are one of the reasons why my wife and I started traveling to Maui each spring, to watch and photograph the whales while they are focused on mating rituals.  Everywhere you turn in the waters off of Maui, there are whales flying through the air. Here in California, it’s pure luck. 

    On this particular trip, my luck ran out. There were large pods of whales, gorging on very large “bait balls” of anchovies. There were swarms of sea lions, following the whales as they all gorged on the anchovies. 

    Photo of sea lions in feeding frenzy
    Sea Lion feeding frenzy

    The whales did not have to dive deep, so all you would see are the spouts as they surfaced in the midsts of the sealions, and then a fluke as they dove back down. That gets ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from most of the passengers, but not from semi-serious photographers Iike myself. All told, I probably shot about 25 photos. I usually have a few hundred when the whales are performing ( I can set the camera for 10 frames per second). 

    It was a pleasant afternoon, and definitely a nice distraction to focus on something other than my 50th anniversary. It’s always nice to be out on Monterey Bay on a beautiful sunny day. But a disappointment in terms of photography expectations. I still had high hopes for the next day, which was a pontoon boat tour of Elkhorn Slough. An “Otter Safari”.

    A bit of background if you’ve never heard of Moss Landing or the Elkhorn Slough (pronounced ‘slew’). Moss Landing is a fishing community (I use that term loosely) in between Santa Cruz and Monterey. The harbor is fair sized, filled with lots of commercial and private boats, as well as some large research vessels. The Monterey Aquarium has a research center there. All for a good reason – the harbor entry happens to be at the head of the Monterey Canyon, an underwater version of the Grand Canyon which is a giant smorgasbord of seafood for large marine mammals…like Humpback Whales. Along with a lot of sea lions, killer whales and many kinds of fish, so the harbor is home to a number of eco touring outfits. The harbor is also the entry for a very large marine estuary – the Elkhorn Slough, which is home to a variety of interesting birds, a sheltered resting place for harbor seals, and a feeding ground for sea otters. The slough is protected, accessible only by kayaks and a couple of licensed eco tours, which take groups out in open air, pontoon boats. Nice and comfy. The main channel goes quite a ways inland, surrounded mostly by farm land. And dominated by the giant stacks from a now defunct power plant.

    Photo of the Moss Landing Power Plan stacks
    Stacks for the old power plant

    My wife and I once rented a kayak there and did some exploring up the slough – absolutely beautiful and peaceful. Easy paddling unless a strong tide is coming in or out. There is also a nice protected area by the harbor entry, where the otters used to rest in large clusters (called a raft) – we always made a point of stopping there just to watch the critters rolling around.  

    Jan did all the paddling…I steered and took pictures

    We never considered booking one of the pontoon boat “safari” rides – they just seemed so touristy. I had been planning on renting a kayak to photograph the otters, but was concerned about handling my big camera while I’m paddling around – way too risky. And then a friend told me that the pontoon tours were worth taking – no paddling required, and you have a nice stable platform to take pictures. Sold.

    This was quite a different experience from the whale watch tour I did the day before. The boat holds about 24 people, plus the boat driver and a naturalist. You just sort of step onto the boat, grab a seat on one of the benches, and they take off through the harbor. It’s very informal – the driver and naturalist keep a dialog going throughout the tour, pointing things out, answering questions. You can move around on the boat which was great for photography – unlike the whale tours, you don’t have  people camped out along the railings, blocking the view. There were only 8 passengers so there was plenty of room to move around. I was also able to finally use the fancy monopod I bought a few months ago – there’s too much vibration on the larger whale tour boats, but it was perfect for stabilizing the big lense on the pontoon boat.

    Photo of an Elkhorn Slough pontoon boat

    It was nice taking a slow ride through the harbor – there is lots to see with sea lions camped out on the piers (any any boat they can climb onto), and a good sized colony of cormorants nesting on the old pilings and channel markers. 

    Once we turned into the slough, the driver just wandered back and forth along the main channel, slowing down when we saw anything of interest, which was pretty much all the time. There was an abundance of birds including squadrons of pelicans flying just overhead – not being a birder, I do not recall the names of all the other ones the naturalist spotted. There were harbor seals resting on the shore and best of all….lots of otters. A few photo’s below:

    BTW – if you click on any of the photo’s, you’ll get a full frame expansion. The mother with a very large pup is my favorite.

    The tour was relatively short – only about 90 minutes, but it was well worth it. I finally got to try out the monopod (no hand cramps this time), and learned a few lessons about using the new camera with fast moving, wet objects. Otters are really difficult to get the correct exposure – for one thing, they move around a lot, their fur is shiny when wet, and you wind up with photographs of a mess of wet fur, whiskers and the big webbed paws and feet since they do not hold still too often. I also forgot to reset some of the settings I used for the whale tour. But I still managed a couple of good photos and most important of all, I had fun.

    Here are a couple of links if you are interested in going to Moss Landing for either whale tours or the slough tour:

    My personal favorite for whale tours: https://www.blueoceanwhalewatch.com/
    Elkhorn Slough tour: https://elkhornslough.com/
    General Information: https://elkhornslough.org/

    You can also hike around on some trails and boardwalks, but these all start at the research center, which is only open from Wednesday-Sunday. Darn. Maybe next time.

  • Gearing Up for Trips to Alaska and Antarctica

    Gearing Up for Trips to Alaska and Antarctica

    Retiree’s, especially those who have been retired for a long time like myself (9 years) have a problem remembering the current date and sometimes the current day of the week. Once you are out of work, every day seems like Friday. Or Saturday. Or whatever day you like the best. I use to rely on my wife to keep track of important dates – she kept a completely detailed calendar for important social, financial, anniversary dates,  birth dates – pretty much everything scheduled for up to a year ahead. Now that she’s gone, I rely on my Pixel watch – the face clearly has the day and date, so all I have to do is check my wrist. Seriously, I do maintain a schedule, and check it every day, which is why I realized the other day that I’m just 39 days from departing for Alaska, and maybe I should start getting serious about making sure I have everything I need for the trip. The Alaska trip is only 10 days, but it’s chock full of different activities (kayaking, hiking, cruising for wildlife), in a wet and cool location. Kind of different from the trips I’ve been on this past year. So I’ve dedicated the past few days to preparing for the next trip, the Inner Passages of Alaska, and starting to think about Antarctica in November.

    In Search of the Perfect Camera Backpack

    I posted a while back about my never ending struggle with lugging camera gear on my adventures. Every one of the trips I’ve been taking (or planning to take) that requires air travel seem to have somewhat different photography needs, and different airline requirements for carry-on luggage. For example, the Galapagos Island trip had land based wildlife photography plus snorkeling with sea lions and penguins. That’s a lot of gear. My upcoming trip to Alaska is primarily wildlife, but also kayaking and possible close encounters with whales. Long lens, wide angle lens and the GoPro. The next Baja trip will have opportunities for wildlife, and both surface and underwater whale photography – I probably will not need the 500mm lens on that trip, but probably take it anyway.  This large amount of camera gear would not be an issue if I were always flying first class on large planes. But most of these trips have a second flight on smaller, commuter jets, which have limitations on weight and size of carry-on. I’ve also got two trips so far, which have the final leg on single engine prop planes. Very small, with limitations on size and weight of luggage.  I’ll be closing my eyes on take-off and landing, especially the sea plane. 

    Now that I have a very large and heavy telephoto lens (150-500), my former go-to camera bag no longer goes. That’s what happens when you try to cut costs. My wife would have said..”just buy the damn bag you need”. But I didn’t. And then a miracle occurred while I was stressing out about what to do for my upcoming Alaska trip, I received two sale advertisements via e-mail, one from Mike’s Camera, and the other from Think Tank, both for the same camera bag – the Airport Commuter backpack. The overall size of this pack is between my giant LowePro backpack, and the smaller Think Tank backpack that I used on my last two trips. It’s also a bit smaller than the roller camera bag I have. It looked absolutely perfect for pretty much anywhere I travel to. So, off to Mike’s Camera, which had one in stock. For once in my life, I did not stand there trying to justify the purchase. I had already done the research on it, so as my wife had recommended at times like these, I just bought the damned thing. 

    The Think Tank backpack is pretty much the last photography related item I’ll be buying for a while, other than a raincoat for the camera. Seriously, they make specialized rain covers for cameras, large enough to cover huge lenses mounted on a tripod/monopod. You can get inexpensive ones which are basically large plastic bags, or spend a lot on waterproof material, sized to fit specific lens types. I opted for the latter – after spending that much on the camera and lens, I’m not going to scrimp on the rain gear. And I even found one made in the USA, from a company (Lenscoat) that specializes in various protective covers for cameras and lenses. It is rare to find any camera gear made in the US – almost all camera and lens makers are foreign, and even tripods/monopods are all made elsewhere. 

    When I got home, I packed all of the gear I could possibly use on a trip into the new pack – there was still plenty of room for other carry-ons like an iPad, books, glasses, etc. And the size really was perfect – it will fit in the overhead of pretty much any plane, and should not be an issue with the small planes either. I won’t be packing much in the way of clothing for those trips. On one trip we live on the beach, the other in a shipping container on a fishing boat. Who cares what I look (or smell) like. I’ll be staying at hotels after each trip, with real showers, and my own bathroom. I am treating both of these like a backpacking trip. I will be looking forward to a long, hot shower when I get to the hotels.

    The Grizzly Bear boat – no frills.

    Expedition Clothing – REI loves me

    And speaking of gear, I’m almost done buying out REI (and other places) for the Alaska trip. I now own waterproof outerwear for kayaking (which I’ll also need in Alaska, Antarctica and Patagonia), kayak gloves, photographers gloves for cold weather, boot socks for the rented waterproof boots, and some new lightweight insulated clothing. My annual REI rewards check should be impressive this year.  Fortunately, you can rent a lot of the bulky stuff you need on some of the trips, like knee high waterproof boots for Alaska and Patagonia, and winter boots for Antarctica – those would be impossible to pack, and really uncomfortable to wear on the plane. National Geographic gives passengers big parkas for the Antarctica trip. I’m not quite sure how I’ll get that home.

    Monopod vs. Tripod

    I mentioned in a previous post that I had purchased a new monopod, which will come in handy for photographing from the National Geographic ships, and the Kodiak converted fishing boat. I have two tripods, which are a must for shooting with heavy cameras and lenses, but both are heavy, and are not allowed onboard smaller ships – these take up too much deck space on smaller ships. Monopods provide some stability, relieving much of the stress and pain of hand-holding heavy gear, and work well when jockeying for space with the other photographers. The Siriu monopod I purchased is made from carbon-fiber, extends to 6’, and has a small set of fold-up feet for added stability. I also bought a ball-joint mount, and a specialized quick release mount for it as well. The mount and feet sections are removable, so it will be easy to pack the thing in my luggage, and it is super light.

    Big camera on monopod with feet
    Collapsed monopod
    Disassembled

    I’ll leave the feet at home for both trips to cut down on weight – I’m not planning on using it like a tripod for the heavy lens and camera. A very nice toy.

    So I think I’m ready for Alaska. I’ll worry about Antarctica in October.

    FYI – you may notice some formatting changes in this post, which I will be applying to my older posts as well. I’m learning more about blogging, and ways to maximize new visitors through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I’m not considering advertising/monetization at all, which seems to be what most blogs use. But I will have an occassional link to the locations I visit, or for some of the companies I buy gear from – more of a convenience for readers interested in the stuff, and one of the SEO recommendations I’ve read about.