Years back, I got a charter call from a well-known and highly skilled underwater photographer named Michael DeGruy. His boat was out of commission for maintenance, and he needed to get on the water to do some work, so he chartered me, Capt. Tiffany and my boat.

Once aboard my boat in the morning he smiled and slyly asked, “Are you up for a challenge? I need whales and kelp.” That was quite a challenge.

My answer was, “You want whales and kelp together, same place same time?” He laughed and assured me I had the challenge right. I said, “Let’s stow your gear, I got this!”

The seas were calm and it took about an hour and a half to get to the spot I had in mind on the far side of the Channel Islands. Capt. Tiffany anchored us right inside the edge of the robust kelp forest and Michael and his crew suited up in their dive gear.

After a last-minute briefing, they grabbed and checked their high-end camera gear and splashed. We waited topside. When I have divers down I worry by nature, yet these folks were a skilled and experienced team of underwater photographers.

We saw a good number of whales coming by on the surface, and I felt that I had put the divers on the right spot. After what seemed like a very long time, the crew surfaced, changed tanks, checked their equipment and went back down. This happened multiple times.

Finally, after many hours of work, the team surfaced a final time, and we hauled their gear over the gunn’l, then helped them clamber aboard.

Once settled, Michael looked at me, laughed and said, “Captain, we saw just a few short of 100 whales that came through that kelp. You sure came through for us and did your job!”

That warm compliment felt good. I asked: “So, you got some good pictures down there?” I was in high hopes that they got plenty of material.

Michael, smiled and said, “Not one single frame.” I felt shocked and dismayed and my face must have shown it.

Michael explained: “Don’t worry about it, you couldn’t possibly have brought us to a better spot. But we specialize in magazine cover shots and a hundred factors all have to align perfectly before we take any shots.

“We needed a certain angle of light filtering through the kelp fronds and a whale to come through in exactly the right spot, and it didn’t quite happen. This is the frustrating part of our work.”

That made me feel a tiny bit better. Michael was going to get his boat back in a day or two and asked if I minded if he brought his own boat out to the same perfect spot I showed him.

I was happy to agree to his request with the hope that with enough days of work, they would get their cover shot.