@ThisFunktional goes Whale Watching with National Geographic HOSTILE PLANET producers

Executive producers Guillermo Navarro, left, and Tom Hugh-Jones

Written by Jesus Figueroa

"Hostile Planet" executive producers Guillermo Navarro and Tom Hugh-Jones went whale watching with media aboard The Duchess Legend out of Marina Del Rey, California in celebration of the April 1 premiere on National Geographic Channel.

Getting to see a whale is never guaranteed because whales travel around and may not appear in the same place twice.

Navarro said that so much patience was needed to get the amazing content they were able to capture, because they are working with nature and animals which they need to capture as they present themselves.

Although whales are not always guaranteed, dolphins and seagulls are around so there are always many marine life animals that people get to see while out exploring.

The experience with nature is always unique and fortunate for the media on this whale watching trip we got to see whales and were able to follow them along for about 30 minutes and capture some great images and see some amazing activity from the grey whales.

Hugh-Jones said that we were able to see some amazing things because we waited and thats exactly what the filmmakers did and they too were rewarded with once-in-a-lifetime footage. He feels that they tried everything they could to make the series exciting and entertaining while trying to make it unique. The filmmakers involved with the series were gathered from all over the film genre in hopes of making a series that grabs the attention of audiences which may not watch these types of shows.

The process of capturing photos or footage is more than just waiting.

While heading out to hopefully see whales, everyone prepared cameras and found their desired spot on the yacht to be prepared for the instance when or if we saw whales.

Navarro said, much like the whale watching trip, its more than just waiting, it's a process that the filmmakers have to go through and hopefully they get to capture what they want or something better than what they expected.

Hugh-Jones said that its also about trying to get to know the animal and the surroundings to almost be able to predict what will give the best opportunity to capture something spectacular.

For the whale watching trip, the captain kept time as the grey whales seemed to be coming up for air every 5 minutes.

Being able to keep track and watching the water many of the media got to see the whales blowing up water with their blow holes as they came up for air and at points the tails coming up out of the water.

Hugh-Jones said that he hopes when people watch this they connect with it and begin to ask questions of where their food comes from and about the natural world they live in.

Although we were far out at sea there were still seeing trash which pollutes the ocean and shows just how hostile humans are to the natural world even when we don't really see the way we affect the world around us.

Hugh-Jones said that when we forget about it, we don't really care about the world when it is being destroyed or harmed.

Navarro said that part of the point of making shows like this is creating the awareness. It's not just showing an animal, but also placing the lens in the right place to create that emotional connection.

Here's some photos from the whale watching trip: