Blue Whale, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Blue Whale fluking-up, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, 30th September 2012

On 30th September 2012 I headed out to sea off Trincomalee with Nature Trails Naturalist Nilantha Kodituwakku and Boatman Jeyraj from the Chaaya Blu, a John Keels Hotel. Within 7 minutes Jeyraj had spotted the first blow from a Blue Whale. Eventually we were able to count 5 Blue Whales spouting simultaneously around the boat. The actual number of Blue Whales feeding in that area would have been higher. We eventually settled in an area which was in the central axis and deepest part of the submarine canyon which cuts into the Trincomalee bay near Swami Rock. 3 Blue Whales were regularly within a few hundred meters of the boat, close to each other. They were feeding. Interestingly, Nature Trails naturalist B. Dayarathne had over breakfast commented that the fish in the market had krill spilling out of their mouth. He speculated that a krill bloom had occurred.

I had actually come up to Chaaya Lodge with my family as a guest of Chitral Jayatilake the head of eco-tourism for John Keells Hotels. As I was checking in, Nature Trails Naturalist B. Dayarathne called Nilantha to brief him that a calm spell had resulted in him taking people out fishing. He has seen Blue Whales. Having visited the Gathering of Elephants on the Saturday, we left early on Sunday morning to catch the whales before the arrival of the North-east Monsoon closed the window of weather for whale watching.

After 5 years of photographing whales, this is the first time I have got a decent image of a fluking Blue Whale from behind. This is because I have been careful not to chase whales from behind to get this classic view. This does not mean that images of fluking whales like this are always the result of approaching whales closely from behind. Sometimes whales approach boats as they are curious. I have seen them turn away and fluke, but not been able to get the shot. This image was of one of two Blue Whales which repeatedly surfaced near our boat as they fed. Because of a heavy swell and because we were engaged in conversation, Nilantha and I did not even notice how close this whale was, until the boatman called out as it fluked-up.

I am probably one of the few people if not the first to have taken images of Blue Whales of a publishable standard from all three of Sri Lanka's whale watching triangle of Mirissa, Kalpitiya and Trincomalee. This is a reflection of how until May 2008, Sri Lanka's potential as being Best for Blue Whale was not publicised. It was not until 2010 that Kalpitiya was publicised as having the potential for commercial whale watching. In 2010, Chitral Jayatilake and his Nature Trails team re-opened the prospects for commercial whale watching in Trincomalee. In 2011, the Trincomalee whale watching extension was publicised which means that Sri Lanka now has a window of 9-10 months for watching Blue Whales.