The Traveling Widower

Tag: photography

Top level category for photography related posts

  • 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.  

    A smiling woman in a life jacket stands on a wooden dock by the water, holding a kayak paddle with kayaks in the background.
    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
    A man wearing sunglasses and a blue jacket stands on a boat, holding a large camera with a long lens, with a body of water and trees in the background.

    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.

  • What Drives Me: Where I travel & why

    A friend of Jan’s (and mine too) recently asked me in a chat what drives my choices for the trips I’ve been scheduling. I seem to be all across the board on locations and activities. Mexico, South America, Utah, Alaska, whales, bears, hiking, kayaking. What next? Space travel?

    There is some method to my madness, and no, I am not using a dart board to select my trip (but it might be fun to have one).  It was a good question, and made me think a bit on where my wandering through the grief wilderness had led me to.

    Circular wall art featuring a world map background with the text 'Adventure Awaits' and 'Explore the World' in white.

    I think my interests in photography and nature were the initial drivers for most of the early trips – I love being outdoors, and photographing scenery and wildlife has always been a hobby of mine. Some of my choices are just places I’ve always wanted to visit – my bucket list has always included Alaska and the Galápagos Islands,  both of which also met my criteria for photo opportunities.  Alaska has glaciers and bears, eagles and whales. Jan was never interested in going there, and gave me a trip for my birthday once, that I never used. The Kodiak trip will be the most adventurous of my trips so far – sleeping on bunk beds on a fishing trawler, getting up close and personal with giant grizzly bears. No lions or tigers but lots of bears. Oh my! 

    My trips to the Baja peninsula are all about the whales, but I fell in love with the incredible scenery, and the culture as well. Jan would have done that first National Geographic cruise – doubtful about the upcoming “glamping” trip in February. Antarctica is about the overall adventure, plus photographing penguins and icebergs. For Jan, that would have been a definite “NOT”.  Patagonia is all about epic landscapes, and visiting someplace remote. And then there is Iceland – many years ago,  I traded with Jan a trip to the Wimbledon tournament, followed by a bus tour around Iceland. Jan really did not care too much for the Iceland part of the trip, and was probably not disappointed that it was cancelled when Wimbledon was cancelled for COVID. I’m really looking forward to the one I recently scheduled – a lot of really weird geology, a lot of landscape photography, a few caves, and the possibility of photographing active volcanos. Woo hoo!

    Jan was always more into cities and people – we both compromised to share our interests on our trips. She would have enjoyed the National Geographic cruises since they have outdoor activities, photography opportunities, but also have cultural focused activities which I know she would have loved. She would have been up on the stage dancing at a festival we went to in Baja on one trip.

    Traditional dancers wearing colorful costumes perform a lively dance on stage, surrounded by musicians playing instruments.

    My domestic trips to Utah/Nevada/Arizona are not so much focused on hiking but more on my fascination with the incredible scenery in these places – the canyons, peaks and rock formations in national parks like Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches are fantastic. My inner geologist loves seeing those things, plus the landscape photography is incredible. I have a long list of parks, slot canyons and strange features that I want to see, mostly in Utah and Arizona. The Wave is still on my list, and I’ll do that if I have to use a walker to get there. 

    An elderly woman on a walking treadmill in a park, while a man rides a bicycle nearby.

    And then there are all the touristy things I’ve been doing, like the five caverns I visited this summer, and the bizarre Donner Tunnel hikes. No reason for these other than the pure fun of it, and the opportunity to try out some different photography techniques as well. I’ve got a few more planned this year – more caves, dark sky photography, and a hopefully successful attempt on the 2700 step Manitou Incline.

    A steep, wooden staircase leads down through a forested area with a scenic view of a valley and distant mountains under a clear blue sky.
    Manitou Incline (Colorado)

    I have had to slim down my choices due in part to the fact that I’m ancient, alone and no longer in the same shape as I was when I was 30 – age creeps up on you.  I’d love to do more scuba diving trips, but my cardiologist told me no more diving. I’d really love to do a trek in the Himalayas, but I’m just not in shape for anything like that anymore. I do review the detailed itineraries in the catalogs for each trip before scheduling – I’m not looking for anything with long, strenuous hikes or climbing. I hear Jan’s voice saying – “please be careful”, or sometimes “are you out of your mind?”. 

    OK, so this post is longer than I was planning on to answer a single question. In summary, the top selection criteria for my adventures are (drum role please):

    1. Fun! It has to be something I enjoy doing (duh…why would I do something I don’t enjoy). Seriously, there are some trips I’ve looked at but realized there were activities I don’t enjoy. I seriously considered a Christmas trip to Banff, but realized after reading the itinerary that there was nothing in it that I really wanted to do. And it’s incredibly cold there in January.
    2. Reasonable Adventures! No sky diving, shark dives, rock climbing, or 18 mile, 3000’ elevation gain hikes. See #1. It has to be fun, not an epic event. I’ve done enough of them in my life. 
    3. Fascination! There are so many incredible places to go in the US and world. My list keeps growing.Bryce Canyon and Kanab just whet my appetite.
    4. Comfort! I’m past the point where I’m interested in sleeping on rocks, slogging through mud in mosquito infested swamps, or ending an exhausting day at a crummy motel with no hot water. I’m getting used to the National Geographic/Lindblad model of travel – do all kinds of crazy stuff, come back with someone waiting with a nice adult beverage when you get out of the Zodiac. 
    5. When all else fails, resort to the dart board.