Calm weather and sunny skies great us as we leave Princess Royal Harbour. We are told that several blows have been seen out deep on the line between Breaksea Island and Bald head. So off we go at 1800 rpm on our twin Volvo 360 hp motors. Cruising at about 15 kts, we have enough time to enjoy a coffee and then we are in the area the sightings were made. We don't see any blows close so decide to head west towards bald head as passengers on the top deck cry out their she blows !! We catch up with a young humpback, about 8-10 metres long cruising west slow. We follow for some time and as he takes a dive we turn and head east to see blows off in the distance.
Then that huge splash that tells us that the boys have started to show off. Or is it the girls feeling happy. Hey it is mating season :)
"We are often asked why the whales breach? Folks I truly believe its because they can. I have seen adults breach and new born calves follow suit. Are they communicating well may be but they seem to do it for no apparent reason with no apparent out come, and with no predictability"
As we get a little closer we count about 6 blows as the whales hit the surface. Then we see the whales heading towards us, so put the motors in to neutral, then we notice that the whales are chasing a pod of bottle nose dolphins. The dolphins bring great screams of excitement from the group of Indian passengers on board. The whales and dolphins swim around the boat, they seam to be playing a game of tag. After about 10 minutes the whales split into 2 pods some heading off to another pod coming close to see what all the commotion is all about. Whales are all around us, we count about 6 different pods within 1 km. We see a breach and head to that pod hoping it will not be a one of. As we approach the breaching stops. Then another whale breaches several hundred metres away. Now they are just teasing us. No one gets any pics of breaches but some times its just good to take it all in and put it in the memory banks. We leave and head to a colony of New Zealand fur seals. Then its off home, so how many whales did we see. Well I think some where between 18 and 20 close and more, that we just didn't worry about going to. All in all a good day.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest
Then that huge splash that tells us that the boys have started to show off. Or is it the girls feeling happy. Hey it is mating season :)
"We are often asked why the whales breach? Folks I truly believe its because they can. I have seen adults breach and new born calves follow suit. Are they communicating well may be but they seem to do it for no apparent reason with no apparent out come, and with no predictability"
As we get a little closer we count about 6 blows as the whales hit the surface. Then we see the whales heading towards us, so put the motors in to neutral, then we notice that the whales are chasing a pod of bottle nose dolphins. The dolphins bring great screams of excitement from the group of Indian passengers on board. The whales and dolphins swim around the boat, they seam to be playing a game of tag. After about 10 minutes the whales split into 2 pods some heading off to another pod coming close to see what all the commotion is all about. Whales are all around us, we count about 6 different pods within 1 km. We see a breach and head to that pod hoping it will not be a one of. As we approach the breaching stops. Then another whale breaches several hundred metres away. Now they are just teasing us. No one gets any pics of breaches but some times its just good to take it all in and put it in the memory banks. We leave and head to a colony of New Zealand fur seals. Then its off home, so how many whales did we see. Well I think some where between 18 and 20 close and more, that we just didn't worry about going to. All in all a good day.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest
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