TRAVEL
Breaching humpback whale appears to hover over waves off Tonga
- NEWS LIMITED NETWORK
- APRIL 10, 2013 10:00PM
A baby humpback whale breaches out of the water in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ha'apai Islands, Tonga. Picture: Jon Cornforth/BARCROFT MEDIA Source: Barcroft Media
WILDLIFE photographer Jon Cornforth was leading a group of swimmers near a secret whale hotspot off the coast of the Ha'apai Islands of Tonga when he came within metres of a friendly mother and her five-metre baby.
After seeing little activity for what seemed like hours, the whales then put on a show.
"We could sense that something was going to happen and eventually the whales exploded from the water in what can only be described as a goodbye greeting to each other," the Seattle photographer said.
"The baby whale looks almost like it is levitating out of the water. You do feel really small really quickly when encountering such a large mammal. It took hundreds of attempts to capture such a shot."
