Zihua Shot-a-Day - Humpback Ballet

In what surely must be among the strangest whale photos ever shot, a mother humpback whale and her calf frolic in the Pacific north of Ixtapa. I watch both breach a dozen times. Between the electrifying leaps, both casually wave their fins and then smack them down on the water.

But then, in an instant, there is this curious study in the unison of opposites. The calf's smooth, jet black body completes a fluid leap, just as the cow raises her gnarled, graffitied flipper as if to show her approval.

Both forms, with little evident splash, look for all the world as if they'd been copied and pasted onto an empty sea. In perfect alignment, they appear to be the same size, but somehow it all looks impossible. It is not.

One Man's Wonder

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http://www.OneMansWonder.com

Oh that is fantastic!

Fantastic shot. We saw some humpbacks breach while haveing lunch at Potosi.
The waiter went around and alerted all the customers. How many other resturants offer that service!

What a stellar photo, Jeff! You should win an award for this one!

Also be on the lookout for gray whales who are also in the area now.

Great photo.

Now I bet Sally is mad she did not go fishing with you and Julio. I know I wish I had gone along. Lovely.

an amazing capture of the moment....... wow. Usually when something like this happens (which is nearly as rare as hen's teeth!) our cameras are somewhere else! Bravo for being there at exactly the right time. We are very lucky to see such beauty, even in photography. Wow again.

fantastic shot.. we saw lots of whales on many days while in la barra.. both humpback and we think once a gray..but sure didn't get any shots this fantastic. Ballet is right.. they seemed full of joy and were constantly breaching for about 1 hour one day. .

You definitely should enter this photo in contests. Might just be the big winner.

Fintastic!