We head from the marina with light winds and Bernie tells me that there are whales south east of a ship at anchor in King George Sound.
Karina Mitchell is crew today and looking forward to helping out for a couple of days.
Karina arranges some morning tea after we found and spent some time, with a large pod of Common Dolphins.
As we continue to where we expect to find some whales I spot a blow off to starboard, about 600 metres away. We find 2 young humpbacks that are not moving too fast. So I knock the engines out of gear and with a little wind now we drift in the direction the whales were heading. They pop along side us and then dive. We continue to drift and the whales surface off to port, dive again and then off to starboard again. Now they are behind us, then next they surface very close to us. This continues for some time until they deicide they have had enough and start towards Bald Head. We follow slowly at times getting some great photos.
By the time we leave these whales we are close to the seal cove at Bald Head, so we drop into say hello.
We have seen several blows out deep but now the winds have increased so I would like to know that we are going to have a good viewing to head out where I am now seeing several whales breach.
In the area between Bald Head and Breaksea Island the water depth is around 45/50 metres and you are in the southern ocean. Whales can be very hard in the best weather conditions so with winds increasing from the north west we did not have the best conditions.
But the whales continue to breach and they are heading our way so I head out to meet them. Our arrival does not change the whales behaviour in any way. We have 2 whales breaching reasonably close and another several hundred metres further south. We follow and I would have loved to have had my camera out, but alas it was not to be as the sea was now quite choppy. Every body was amazed at the antics of the whales and I could hear the whirl of shutters around me. There are several other pods of whales around us some of these breaching or tail slapping. When the whales head out deep again we depart for home it is now 1145hours and it will take us about 30 minutes to get back to the marina. I warn those on the front deck that they will get wet if they stay there and give those on the fly-bridge with me time to head down stairs.
As we head back across King George Sound straight into the wind I spot breaches about half way across the sound. When we get to these whales they have finished their displays and now are heading towards Goode Beach. We get back to the marina at about 1230 hours. I cant wait to see some of the photos that were taken.
Karina Mitchell is crew today and looking forward to helping out for a couple of days.
Karina arranges some morning tea after we found and spent some time, with a large pod of Common Dolphins.
As we continue to where we expect to find some whales I spot a blow off to starboard, about 600 metres away. We find 2 young humpbacks that are not moving too fast. So I knock the engines out of gear and with a little wind now we drift in the direction the whales were heading. They pop along side us and then dive. We continue to drift and the whales surface off to port, dive again and then off to starboard again. Now they are behind us, then next they surface very close to us. This continues for some time until they deicide they have had enough and start towards Bald Head. We follow slowly at times getting some great photos.
By the time we leave these whales we are close to the seal cove at Bald Head, so we drop into say hello.
We have seen several blows out deep but now the winds have increased so I would like to know that we are going to have a good viewing to head out where I am now seeing several whales breach.
In the area between Bald Head and Breaksea Island the water depth is around 45/50 metres and you are in the southern ocean. Whales can be very hard in the best weather conditions so with winds increasing from the north west we did not have the best conditions.
But the whales continue to breach and they are heading our way so I head out to meet them. Our arrival does not change the whales behaviour in any way. We have 2 whales breaching reasonably close and another several hundred metres further south. We follow and I would have loved to have had my camera out, but alas it was not to be as the sea was now quite choppy. Every body was amazed at the antics of the whales and I could hear the whirl of shutters around me. There are several other pods of whales around us some of these breaching or tail slapping. When the whales head out deep again we depart for home it is now 1145hours and it will take us about 30 minutes to get back to the marina. I warn those on the front deck that they will get wet if they stay there and give those on the fly-bridge with me time to head down stairs.
As we head back across King George Sound straight into the wind I spot breaches about half way across the sound. When we get to these whales they have finished their displays and now are heading towards Goode Beach. We get back to the marina at about 1230 hours. I cant wait to see some of the photos that were taken.
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