Over the years I have had the occasion when whales will swim under and around our research boat. On this particular encounter these two whales swam to the boat and after five minutes I slipped in and was amazed at what I saw. It was the clarity of the water that took my breath away. It was as if i was in a swimming pool the water was so clear with at least 200-foot visibility. There was no particulate in the water and the play of light on the whales as they danced around me for almost 2 1/2 hours resulted in hours of video footage and these unique photographs. The photo above won an award for "Most Pubicly Liked Entry" at the Prince of Wales's Commonwealth Environmental Photography Awards "Out of the Blue".