"Southern Rights off Middleton Beach"

We arrive at the boat and we have another great day. Bernie arrives to tell us that several whales have be spotted entering Frenchman Bay. We leave the marina and head towards Seal Rock. As we leave Princess Royal Harbour a call comes over the radio from a fisherman to inform us we are heading in the wrong direction as a Southern Right whale has been spotted off Griffith Street, Middleton Beach. I tell him that we have information on 4 humpback whales so we will come to the southern rights on our way home. We spot the whales off Goode Beach as we round the eastern end of Mistaken Island. The whales head towards Mistaken Island so we stop and wait for them to arrive. They don't care about us and head past us and in towards the mussel lease we turn and skirt the lease keeping an eye on 4 whales as they swim right through the middle of the lease. The whales then part and  rejoin each other again. Conditions are very calm so we turn off the motors and drop the hydrophone over the side to see if we can hear any whale songs. No luck today but can you beet a calm day, whales close, sunshine and a good coffee. Passengers are busy taking pictures and the whales playing mating games. We get a call from a mate on the beach and he informs me we have 2 more humpbacks heading towards us from Whale World. We spend about 1.5 hours with whales close and then with a breeze coming across the sound we head off to check out the southern rights. We find them not far from where they had been first reported. We watch them for a while and then head back to the dock.
"Master of the Vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest

"Things Calm Down"

As forecast the weather was better this morning. We head out towards Limestone Head and as we get close i see a week blow some distance off. Their is still a good south westerly swell running but at least we do not have an easterly sea on top of that. As we get towards Bald Head fortunately a passenger spots a blow behind us. "Their is a god" We have several young children on board and I really do not wish to head out side of King George Sound. We turn and head back to find s single whale which is heading towards Gull Rock. We tag along waiting for some good tail shots and then we get an unexpected surprise breach. We all saw it but no one got a picture. Then the whale went quiet again.The other whale watching vessel then arrived and stayed for just 10 minutes and then headed off. But knowing that no more whales had been sighted in the area we decided to stay with this whale. We enjoy a cup of Naked Bean coffee and wait for another breach that does not come. When we leave the whale we are close to Gull Rock and we have no wind, no swell, and plenty of sunshine. Its a good day to be alive. We leave the whale to cruise along the coast via Gull Rock and Middleton Beach.
"Master of the vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest