This southern right whale and calf spent a day cruising just off Ngunguru Spit with her calf, feeding in the shallows and breaching, playing, and generally cruising the beautiful Tutukaka Coast.
With our marine mammal permit, and our relationship with Ingrid Visser, whale whisperer extra-ordinaire, we were able to not only capture these shots with a tele photo lens, but some of our crew spent the day with Ingrid and had the privilege of experiencing what it was like over a hundred year ago when these creatures were dominant on our coast.
As we we spent the day with the pair, their vocalising was so loud we could hear them from 100 metres away.
When the bay was filled with 40 or more breeding females with their calves, their noise would have been like a field full of cattle lowing!