Chatham Strait and Hanus Bay
It’s 6:30 a.m. and I’m up on the bridge having coffee with our National Geographic special guest Charles “Flip” Nicklin. We are chatting about whales and whale research when Flip points out matter-of-factly that there are some killer whales in front of us. To this man, whales are second nature. There is probably no one in the world who has worked so closely with such a diversity of whales and the people who study them.
A few minutes later everyone’s stumbling out on deck, and Flip, wearing his usual shorts and flip-flops in Alaska no matter the weather, has pulled out his Nikon arsenal. He slips off a slipper and sets the monopod that steadies his massive camera on the flip-flop, a trick of the trade I presume. In rapid burst succession he fires pixels at an unsuspecting transient bull orca that is accompanying a mother-calf pair. Flip will later deliver the photo of fin and scratched saddle patch to researcher friends who will identify the individual whale.
Over several decades now Flip has captured exceptional still images of whales for National Geographic magazine. He has intimately photographed 38 of the 80+ species of whales and dolphins. Curiously enough, his career piggybacked off a 1963 newspaper photo of his diver father riding a whale he helped to disentangle.
Later in the morning Flip shares breathtaking underwater video with us of humpback whales on their Hawaiian breeding grounds. The clarity and beauty of the images and the concepts his research group is attempting to decode boggle the mind. Shortly after we are outside again, watching possibly some of the very same whales. Five milling humpbacks coalesce into a coordinated feeding group, erupting from the water with their mouths wide open as Flip shoots. The feeding frenzy breaks up quickly and we turn towards our afternoon destination at Hanus Bay where we view brown bears from kayaks, Zodiacs and trailsides, watching one intent grizzly fishing salmon out of a small falls.
Flip Nicklin is not only the world’s greatest photographer of whales and dolphins, but undeniably an outright friendly person intent on sharing his knowledge and passion for whales with everyone. His organization WhaleTrust coordinates research and education platforms to further the world’s understanding of the whales and dolphins that share our planet. It is an extreme privilege to share our week’s whale experiences with their greatest visual documenter.
It’s 6:30 a.m. and I’m up on the bridge having coffee with our National Geographic special guest Charles “Flip” Nicklin. We are chatting about whales and whale research when Flip points out matter-of-factly that there are some killer whales in front of us. To this man, whales are second nature. There is probably no one in the world who has worked so closely with such a diversity of whales and the people who study them.
A few minutes later everyone’s stumbling out on deck, and Flip, wearing his usual shorts and flip-flops in Alaska no matter the weather, has pulled out his Nikon arsenal. He slips off a slipper and sets the monopod that steadies his massive camera on the flip-flop, a trick of the trade I presume. In rapid burst succession he fires pixels at an unsuspecting transient bull orca that is accompanying a mother-calf pair. Flip will later deliver the photo of fin and scratched saddle patch to researcher friends who will identify the individual whale.
Over several decades now Flip has captured exceptional still images of whales for National Geographic magazine. He has intimately photographed 38 of the 80+ species of whales and dolphins. Curiously enough, his career piggybacked off a 1963 newspaper photo of his diver father riding a whale he helped to disentangle.
Later in the morning Flip shares breathtaking underwater video with us of humpback whales on their Hawaiian breeding grounds. The clarity and beauty of the images and the concepts his research group is attempting to decode boggle the mind. Shortly after we are outside again, watching possibly some of the very same whales. Five milling humpbacks coalesce into a coordinated feeding group, erupting from the water with their mouths wide open as Flip shoots. The feeding frenzy breaks up quickly and we turn towards our afternoon destination at Hanus Bay where we view brown bears from kayaks, Zodiacs and trailsides, watching one intent grizzly fishing salmon out of a small falls.
Flip Nicklin is not only the world’s greatest photographer of whales and dolphins, but undeniably an outright friendly person intent on sharing his knowledge and passion for whales with everyone. His organization WhaleTrust coordinates research and education platforms to further the world’s understanding of the whales and dolphins that share our planet. It is an extreme privilege to share our week’s whale experiences with their greatest visual documenter.
