Marko Dragoljevic Photography

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Marko Dragoljevic Photography

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Marko Dragoljevic's underwater photography and stories.

12/09/2026

To us, it’s a tail. To a researcher, it’s a , a passport and sometimes a record of an entire life.

A humpback’s tail is called its fluke, and it can reach about 5.5 metres (18 ft) across. The two sides end in pointed tips, while the trailing edge has its own pattern of little notches and irregularities.

The really fascinating part is underneath. Every humpback has a unique combination of black-and-white pigmentation, scars, shape and markings on its fluke, essentially a whale fingerprint. Researchers photograph these tails and use them to recognize the same whale years later, sometimes thousands of kilometres away. That allows scientists to reconstruct migration routes, relationships, reproductive histories and even aspects of an individual whale’s health without ever touching it. [NOAA]

08/09/2026

On our first day here at we had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with one big singer ;-)

Only male sing the famous long, complex songs. And they don’t just make random sounds; the songs have a real structure: individual sounds are arranged into phrases, phrases into repeating themes, and themes into a complete song, often lasting 5–30 minutes. A male may then repeat that song again and again for many hours.

Perhaps the most fascinating part is that the song is learned and constantly changing. Males within the same population tend to sing essentially the same current version, gradually adopting changes as the song evolves. In the South Pacific, entirely new songs have even spread from one whale population to another across thousands of kilometres; almost like a musical trend travelling across the ocean.

And despite decades of research, we still don’t know exactly why they sing. Song is strongly associated with breeding, but scientists continue to debate whether it primarily attracts females, communicates information to competing males, or serves several purposes at once. Males mostly sing around their winter breeding grounds, but songs have also been recorded during migration and even on distant feeding grounds.

So when you hear a humpback singing, you’re listening to something more than an instinctive call. You’re hearing a socially learned tradition, one that can evolve, spread between populations, and change from year to year.

07/09/2026

almost did not make it :-(

We almost lost them.

Commercial whaling reduced the world’s humpback whales from roughly 140,000 to around 7,000.

Today, more than 100,000 are estimated to exist worldwide.

Some populations have returned to around their pre-whaling numbers; others are still recovering.

It’s one of the ocean’s greatest conservation success stories and a reminder of what can happen when we actually give a species the chance to recover.

06/09/2026

And here we are in , some 600km southwest from Tahiti enjoying the . Different vibe than on Moorea.

They are extraordinary migrants. Some populations travel thousands of kilometres each way between cold, productive feeding grounds and warm tropical breeding/calving areas. Some documented migrations exceed 8,000 km one way.

They mostly fast during migration and breeding. They build up large energy reserves while feeding in colder waters, then can go for months eating very little while migrating and breeding.

05/09/2026

One of the good challanges when you’re diving location with many is to become too shark focused and produce ton of similar/same photos. Thats why I love to chase scene and schooling fish as foreground or background to better share lofe of sharks since this is where lives and feeds and everything else.

Grey reef sharks don’t need to constantly chase fish.
In ’s South Pass, they can spend much of the day cruising or holding position in the current among enormous , conserving energy. Their hunting activity increases dramatically after dark.

04/09/2026

Beauty of being around wall of sharks is that is everywhere where you look.

Fakarava has supported one of the highest recorded concentrations of grey reef sharks in the world. One scientific survey estimated 250–700 sharks in the South Pass, averaging around 34 sharks in an area roughly the size of a rugby/baseball field. [NatGeo]

Few things in a schooling fiah

1. Safety in numbers
Hundreds—or even thousands—of bigeye snappers swim together because it’s much harder for a shark to single out one fish from a moving wall of bodies.
2. Their eyes are oversized for a reason
Bigeye snappers often feed at dawn, dusk, and in dim light. Their large eyes help them see when visibility is low.
3. The current shapes the school
In Fakarava’s passes, strong tidal currents stretch schools into long ribbons and swirling funnels—exactly like the shape in your photo.

03/09/2026

Famous at south pass next to Tetamanu village.

The “wall” is partly an energy-saving strategy. Grey reef sharks need to keep swimming, but in Fakarava they position themselves in the strong current and use areas of upward-flowing water to help maintain their position. Researchers describe them moving almost like a conveyor belt, drifting through the current and cycling back around. This can reduce their energy expenditure by an estimated 20% or more.

02/09/2026

Past 10 days I had an opportunity to meet many new friends so let me first introduce them. The main shark making up famous “Wall of Sharks” is the (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos). In the South Pass at , researchers have counted hundreds at once, with estimates reaching roughly 700 individuals. A grey reef shark isn’t enormous. Most of the ones making up that huge wall are roughly 1.5–2 m long. The spectacle comes from their numbers rather than individual size.

29/08/2026

Amazing few data with these gentle giants at before my adventure

28/08/2026

Looking these gentle giants play around and enjoy their life on this of ours make me feel really good.

But those fins. Those fins are extraordinary.

- Humpbacks have the longest pectoral fins of any whale, reaching around one-third of their body length—sometimes about 5 m.
- Every tail is essentially a fingerprint. The pigmentation, scars and shape on the underside of the fluke are individually distinctive. Researchers photograph them to identify and follow individual whales for decades.

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Manzanillo

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