The following are rare behind-the-scenes excerpts from the diary of a Lindblad Expeditions photo instructor/naturalist.
9:00 a.m.: Who needs the Drake Passage? We’re now offering free roller coaster rides en-route to snorkeling in Cabo Pulmo! The weather is much warmer than Antarctica, to boot: a perfect time to get in our second day of playing with California sea lions, the oceanic version of puppies. Thanks for the bubbles, everyone. And special thanks to the octopus who made an appearance at our second snorkeling site – first one ever! Starting to get more excited for invertebrates than marine mammals…I think this must be a naturalist thing.
12:30 p.m.: Dear whales, the breaching has been magnificent, but we need to work on the timing a bit. Everything is happening outside the frame of view of my camera lens. I appreciate the effort, I really do, but I’d also like to keep my job, and I’m worried that if all I can capture are splashes indicating “Whale was here,” I might soon be swabbing the decks. That being said, I applaud your consistency in appearing every time we’ve scheduled a talk or a meal.
3:45 p.m.: Dear whales, I just wanted to say you’ve really turned this day around. The tail-lobbing, flipper-slapping, head-lunging, and everything-else-lunging is requiring me to use my entire quota of dashes for the day in just one sentence. Our fearless bridge team have taken us into the middle of what our expedition leader John Mitchell lovingly coined “humpback whale soup.” Several of us are contemplating surgery to have eyeballs placed on the backs of our heads just so we can keep tabs on everything that’s going on. Guess I’m going to need another camera. Let’s keep up the awesome work, Baja!
