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You never know what you're going to see while you're enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime adventure of whale watching in Puerto Vallarta, so don't forget to bring your camera, and have it loaded and ready to capture the moment forever! Here are some tips for taking great pictures on your Puerto Vallarta Whale Watching Adventure:
| |  | Daily from Dec 8th through March 23rd departing from the Maritime Terminal in Puerto Vallarta at 8:30 am and 1 pm, or from the Vallarta Adventure Center in Nuevo Vallarta at 8 am and 1:30 pm.
Length of Tour: 4 hours
Price: $85 USD
Minimum Age 12
What's Included: Snacks and soft drinks.
We recommend you bring a camera, binoculars, a bathing suit, towel, sunscreen and a light jacket.
Minimum age 12. To ensure maximum visibility, this tour is conducted on small motor boats with no bathroom facilities aboard. |
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Don't forget to bring your camera and binoculars, plenty of film or video cartridges and fully-charged batteries, so you can share your Puerto Vallarta whale watching experience with your friends and family back home.
While good photographs of whales can be taken with any type of camera, a 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) is recommended for ease of operation and flexibility. This will allow you to use a variety of lenses which are readily available and easily changed. An 80-200mm zoom is probably the best general purpose lens to purchase.
Digital cameras should be of decent quality and capable of 4.0 megapixel size files or larger, so you can make decent-quality enlargements later. Don't forget to bring enough storage cards to get you through a day of shooting all of the natural wonders you'll experience on your whale watching tour.
Make every effort to keep your gear dry, with quality gear bags, plastic baggies or Zip Locks. [Digital cameras in particular are susceptible to damp conditions.]
Bring a small towel with you for wiping down your camera equipment should it get wet.
When in sighting distance of whales, expect the unexpected. Have your camera ready at all times, or you might miss a shot of the whales' incredible natural behaviors, such as a breaching, tail slapping or mother and calf interaction.
When using video or movie cameras to film whales, avoid excessive zooming - this will only accentuate the motion of the whale watching vessel.
Don't use all your film taking pictures of the whales from a distance. Usually the photograph comes back with mostly ocean and very little whale - and sometimes they swim close enough to the boat to get some amazing shots!
Don't film directly into bright, glaring sunlight. You may severely damage your camera or video camera - and your eyes.
After a whale dives, do not focus on the exact area where it went under. They rarely come back up in this spot. Instead, try to determine the direction it is moving in, point your camera in the same direction, and be focused, centered and ready to snap your shot when the whale resurfaces.
While whales often surprise everyone with unexpected movements, it is not unusual for patterns to develop. Our crew members have the benefit of watching whales on a daily basis, so take advantage of that experience by asking them where the whale is likely to surface.
 Photo Safari Regular Price: $85 USD
Book online now and save 10%
| WIN $500 USD FOR YOUR WHALE PHOTOS! | Send us your pictures from your whale watching tour in Puerto Vallarta and not only will you have the chance to win some money, but you will also help us catalog the whales which visit Banderas Bay each year. Please send your photos along with the date they were taken to: whalephotos@vallarta-adventures.com. Closing date is March 23rd. The best photos will be published on our website and the top prize will be awarded in April 2009.
This year's contest winner was Art Ulveland from Ponoka, Alberta, Canada, who won $500 USD for this fantastic photo he took while on Vallarta Adventures' Whale Photo Safari on January 2nd 2008. |
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