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[Crewleader]

October 6, 2014

Whale of a Tail

Photograph by Shane Gross, National Geographic Your Shot

A sperm whale “waves goodbye” to Your Shot member Shane Gross, who had traveled to Sri Lanka’s east coast hoping to photograph blue whales. “While we did have some success with the blues, it was the sperm whales that stole the show,” he writes. He captured this picture toward the end of the six-day expedition. “It was late in the day and the sun was low as this small pod swam toward me, and I did my best to keep quiet so as to not frighten them. This one started to dive and I free dove right after her, trying to get as close to that massive tail as possible. I knew she might be the last whale I'd encounter on the trip, and indeed, she was.”