Heavy rains bring early end to Whale Watching Season

September saw the south west of Australia endure some stormy weather for more days than I can remember. With strong winds and heavy rain we lost a total of 14 days cruising for the month. With the rain came very dirty water entering King George Sound from Oyster Harbour. Southern Rights don't seem to like fresh water.

Before the rain started we had up to 15 whales just off marine drive and as the fresh water made its way into the sound every day the whales slowly moved back towards Nanarup Beach. After several weeks of weather the bar broke at Nanarup and no doubt they didn't like the dirty water that was there either.

It was a little disappointing as we were in line for a big year and expecting upwards of 36 whales in the bay for several weeks. Oh well, now we just have to look forward to next year.

Strong numbers still being seen.

Whale sightings have fluctuated over the past week or two with up to 20 whales spotted on a calm day and at other times because of strong winds restricting the area of operation, numbers have been as low as 5 whales on a cruise. Still good whale watching when they put on a show like captured below for those willing to brave the conditions.

That said we still use a bit of common sense as to weather conditions that we will travel in.

 

Its not every day we see the whales with their mouth open.

Sometimes its more than the whales.

Over the past weeks the up to 30 Southern Rights Whales have been enjoying some time in the western half of King George Sound.

 But some times its not all about the whales we see, although today we did have the pleasure of a humpback calf breaching just metres from our bow. We also had the pleasure of joining the sail training vessel "Lord Nelson" cruise into Princess Royal Harbour. Its a shame the public could not get a closer look as the vessel is along side the wharf.

A Southern Right cow and calf in King George Sound yesterday. You will note the growths around its head. We have sent these images to Doug Coughran and he has forwarded to US for their opinion. I look forward to the replies we get. Southern Rights are now starting to move around the coast with up to 8 Southern Rights being seen on one cruise.

A few pic's I got today. Finding whales every day.

Heaps of Humpbacks

Sorry Folks
I have been a bit slack at keeping the blog page up to date.
We have found whales every cruise which is expected at this time of year.

Today with strong NW winds we travelled out through the centre of King George Sound and found a lone whale heading north toward a ship that is at anchor, but we did not stop for a look as we could see blows a little further out to sea.

We continue and find a humpback cow and a very young calf.  We are told that if the dorsal fin is still bent over then the baby is less than 10 days old.

We stay with these whales enjoying morning tea. While we are watching mum and baby I see blows over towards Herald Reef and the blows are low so I think there may be some Southern Rights heading towards Nanarup Beach.

As we head in that direction we come across the lone whale we saw earlier, we follow for a little while then continue on, to confirm if these whales a couple of km away are in fact are Southern Rights.

As we get closer it becomes apparent that we have found 6 humpbacks charging around, not quite sure which way they are supposed to be going. We stay with these guys as the gods are shining on us today. I was worried about the strong winds forecast and we have found whales in sheltered waters.
We are about 45 minutes from home so we head in that direction at about 1130 hours. We head over to the coast and I get some help from all the children  and "Harry Hamster" on board to bring us home before the storm reaches Albany.

Great Day

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.

Strong Winds

No cruise today as we have strong winds from the South West but they are forecast to subside tonight.

Wednesday 3rd.
The winds were forecast to strengthen so we head along Goode Beach as Bernie has told us that we have a quite whale some where in the area.

We find a very quiet whale just off Flat Rock. As it is just laying on the surface I start to wonder if it may be sick. It has some markings on its back and I try to get some photos. When the other charter boat arrives in the area the whale stirs,  swims down the side of our boat and then turns and starts to make its way to Bald Head. We follow as the whale is cruising close to the coast. We leave as we get close to seal cove at Bald Head and go to check the seals.

As we make our way into the cove we spot 2 more humpbacks heading towards Bald Head. We have seen more blows east but the wind is strengthening so I am not sure we want to go too far from the shelter of the coast.

Then I see a breach about 800 metres away, then a second so we must go and investigate. As we get there we slow when we get close to the area with the motors out of gear and with anticipation we wait. Then just 50 Metres from the bow we have a whale burst from the water.
Some of our passengers get photos but we all see it. This whale dives and then swims south west so we leave and head home.

Now the rain is closing in so I am alone on the fly-bridge. We cruise back into King George Sound and in the distance I see several blows. We will  keep an eye on them and hopefully they will continue on their current heading. The wind is now lifting spray over the boat so I change direction and head more into the wind so I don't get too wet and can watch these whales as they head in towards Goode Beach. We meet with them inshore of Seal Rock and as it is still raining most of the passengers choose to stay on the aft deck so as to stay dry and they are able to get some photos of 6 humpbacks cruising. We follow until they get very close to shore. They head north along the beach and as its on our way home we stick with them until they turn and head south back along the beach once again.

We head home and are met by a local professional fisherman in a small boat waiting at the channel entrance, as we enter the channel he follows us so we calm the water a little for him.

Tuesday 2nd.
2 Humpbacks @ Safe Water Marker,
2 Humpbacks cruise in towards Marine Drive,
3 Humpbacks cruising on the humpback highway.
More whales out deeper but no need to go out further.

Monday 1st.
1 humpback west of Michaelmas Island with tail out of water. Possible cow about to give birth.
2 Humpbacks cruising between Islands.
2 Humpbacks east of Breaksea Island.
3 Humpbacks travel towards Bald Head from east of Breaksea Island. More blows south of us as we follow the 3 above.

Sunday 30th June.
2 humpbacks swim around us for 1 hour in the middle of King George Sound.
1 Adult Humpback swims over Herald reef.


Saturday 29th.
1 quiet swims around us in King George Sound
1 Humpback swimming towards Bald Head from Middle of KGS.
6-8 Humpbacks cruising on the Humpbacks Highway. Lots of action.

A New Baby

You just cant put off doing your blog page because before long its been a week.

We find 1 lone very very quite whale at the channel markers with 20 plus dolphins but it blows and then dives and stays down, so we just continue over to Goode Beach as we have heard that several ways are heading in that direction.

We find 4 adult humpbacks off flat rock close to Whale-world. We follow until they get to Bald Head Cove and then we go to check on the seal colony. I have seen some more blows to the east and as we get close I see one of the blows is very small. The cow and calf are accompanied with another adult. From what I have learnt this whale will be a midwife. An adult cow that will help with the birth and may be with the protection of the calf as they all continue on their migration to warmer waters. They swim towards us then change directions several times, when they head south we leave them to go on their way. We did grab a couple of pictures just for the record.

This week I have spotted the following whales.

Thursday
Whales seen breaching between Islands.

Wednesday
1 small humpback close to Seal Rock
1 small humpback breaches further out, we go to investigate and it swims around us for 45 minutes.
1 large and 1 small humpback just off Whale -world
2 adult humpbacks northern end of Goode Beach.

Tuesday
No cruise due to strong winds.

Monday
4 Adult humpbacks cruising in King George Sound.

Sunday
2 Humpbacks @ the safe water marker.
2 Humpbacks @ Seal Rock.
4 Humpbacks just off Whale-world. 1 is very small but with adult markings. We get photos and send to Doug Coughran at CALM to get his opinion as to what may be wrong with this whale.
2 Humpback northern end of Good Beach.

Whales Visit King George Sound

The weatherman tells us we can look forward to stronger winds over the next few days, but it will be off shore so conditions in King George Sound should be ok for whale watching. As long as the whales come into the Sound that is.

Friday
We head out to find 2 Humpbacks out near the "Safe Water Marker" and follow them for some time. We leave them, as we have had word that over towards Whale-world, we have a pod that are very active. 20 minutes after we have left these whales Bernie tells me that they are entering Princess Royal Harbour. But we have found a pod of 3 whales off whale-world heading towards 2 more whales in Frenchman Bay. They do not join up, insted they turn and start heading toward Michaelmas Island. We follow as these whales seam to be the most active we can see.

We have more whales over towards Seal Rock and now a breach out deep. Not worth heading out there as we would be heading into choppy sea. We continue with our 3 whales and they cross the path of a lone young whale. We only see it once so may be he was intimidated by the larger whales.

Now ahead of us about 1000 meters away, we have more whales that are heading in towards Marine Drive. Our whales are just cruising and we follow them until it is time for us to head home, we are now over on the northern side of King George Sound so we head in to the coast and follow it back to the Marina.

Saturday
Bernie tells me that we have 2 whales at the mussel lease north of Mistaken Island, several whales heading into Goode Beach and some close to the dive site "HMAS Perth"

We see blows just behind the Twin Sisters. When we arrive in the area it seams that we have a pod of 6 or 8 whales cruising through the mussel lease on the southern side of Mistaken Island. We also pass a juvenile off by its self.

The whales pert and then come back together, some swimming in and out of the mussel lease. Some skirting the edges. We end up following 3 or 4 whales as they head out towards the islands. they are changing direction constantly and can be a little hard to follow, then they start to head north. We have blows further out to sea and blows over toward Marine Drive. Bernie then comes over the 2-way to say there is a whale breaching over towards the "Safe Water Marker" but I can not see it as we have clear skies the sun is shining and we have many white caps with the northerly winds. Then I see several blows so we leave the whales we have been with and head to see how many are ahead.

We find 5 or 6 whales cruising fast. We follow as they break the surface at times with a third of their bodies. Or stopping and throwing their tail out of the water. They are moving quite fast at times and several time change direction to swim just off our bow. We follow and now 2 whales come in from the deep. Our pod heads out and we turn to check out the whales that have come in and are now behind us. They take 2 breaths and then dive. Its time to head for home so we hit the coast at Ledge Beach and I get some help to drive home from the children who have be with us today.

A Special Experience.

Bernie visits us at the boat to tell of several pods of whales in King George Sound.
We head out and although Bernie said there were whales over near Seal Rock but they are not that obvious when we cruise past on the way to some blows we have seen towards the middle of King George Sound.

We find 2 whales and follow for some time. 1 small whale lifts its tail and dives and then 2 more over towards Michaelmas Island about 1 km away and another 2 heading south east. We can see breaches out deeper so with the whales around us being pretty quite we head out to see if we can catch some action. No luck today.

We find another lone juvenile whale along side Limestone Head and 2 adults heading south out near Bald Head, but they are travelling and just taking a couple of breaths and then diving.

We go visit the New Zealand Fur Seal colony at Bald Head cove and as we leave the cove the juvenile cruises past us.

We cruise in along the coast stop out side Whale-world and then head towards Seal Rock. It is flat calm and as we head towards Seal Rock I spot a two whales break the surface over towards a couple of squid fishermen.

We head over and follow the whales as they head to Flat Rock just off Whale-world. The whales are very quiet and we knock the boat out of gear. The whales dive and we see their foot prints heading away from us. Then the whales surface and are now heading back towards us. They come in and swim past the stern of the boat as if heading back towards Seal Rock. They then turn and swim around us. Then head off again. Now they are back under the boat. Now they are swimming around us, surfacing at the bow and then at the stern. They swim around us for some time to the delight of our passengers. When they have had enough, they slowly swim away and we headed home.

One of my passengers, commented that they thought I would be over this, after 14 years of watching whales. 

I must say, I still to this day love when whales interact with the boat. I just wish I had more time to capture on video or with my camera.

PS a thought. Are these whales the same ones that swam around us yesterday?

Whales Swim Around Us.

Wednesday morning strong winds are forecast but we leave the marina and the winds are light.

As we head out Chad Bunny, a local fisherman calls me to tell of five whales, north of Michaelmas Island, so we head in that direction.
It takes about 30 minutes to get to the islands and to start with, we can't find any blows.

We continue along the northern side of Michaelmas Island and a passenger sitting along side me on the flying-bridge spots the blows at the same time I do. We get to these whales but we can only find 2 whales not the five reported. We follow but the whales are moving with no direction.
We do see the whales lift 1/3 of their body from the water and slap their tails on the sea surface several times, but at times they are behind us, off to our port side or ahead of us several hundred metres.

The whales head out towards the eastern end of Breaksea Island and I explain to my passengers that we don't want to follow them as the wind is strengthening, making conditions very uncomfortable on the southern side of the island. We leave the whales and go visit a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals, finding a couple of Australian Sea-lions too.

We round the western end of Breaksea Island and head to Limestone Head. There has been a change in the weather and it is now raining and the wind strength I found out later, was peaking at around 44 km per hour. All the passengers have headed down stairs to take shelter and I have increased the revs so it takes us about 10 minutes to reach sheltered waters in the lee of Limestone Head.

We have seen whales breaching out deep but as I said I don't wish to put my passenger in those conditions but I don't think they have had a true whale experience yet, so hope we can find a whale in these calmer waters.

Yes we are in luck. As we head into King George Sound I look off to starboard and spot two very soft blows. We head over to find 2 small humpbacks and several dolphins and once again everyone is out side to get a good view.
The whales are not moving far I take the motors out of gear and within minutes the dolphins head towards us. I have lost sight of the whales until one surfaces right along side us, then his mate. For the next 20 minutes these whales circle the boat, at times spy-hopping, sliding back into the water and then swimming to the other side of the boat. I only have a telephoto lens on my camera and the whales are just too close, especially when one of the whales comes to the surface along side us and then rolls over on its back and lays there for several minutes.

I do love my job. 

Humpback Cow, Calf & Midwife.

Strong winds were forecast but it looks like that will be latter today.

We head out and everyone has joined me on the fly-bridge, Bernie comes over the two-way to tell me that he has seen a very quiet whale half way between a ship at anchor and Seal Rock. We will keep a lookout as we go past but we know that we have several pods cruising on the "Humpback Highway"

We are off Limestone Head when we see our first blows. We have some heading towards Bald Head from out deep, and 2 pods further east. We pick one of the eastern pods and head that way. Then I see another blow off our starboard side. Ok we will go have a look.

We find 2 adult humpbacks, we have now stopped and are waiting for them to swim past us so we can follow. They are now off our port side and we are slowly travelling towards Bald Head. Now the whales stop and cut past our stern. I see that they have some dolphins with them. This can be good as at times they will chase the dolphins and dolphins will come to the boat.

Now they are heading into King George Sound, but that is not a dolphin, I see a very small Humpback calf. The first calf I have seen this year. When I first started whale -watching we did not see Humpbacks calves. Last year we saw about 15 for the season.

I have asked those that may know why this is. And the answer I get is that we have never had so many Humpback whales since we started keeping records and numbers are increasing by about 8% per year. With increasing populations we get a increase in chances of cows falling pregnant early in the season or the chance premature berths. What ever the reason its great to see.

We follow the cow, calf and midwife. (an adult female that will accompany an pregnant cow) until they get close to the headland where they stop for a rest it seems. They stay in the same place for about 10 minutes and then forge on again.  We follow until they pass the seal cove at Bald Head and we leave them on their migration north.

We go in and check on the New Zealand Fur Seals then head back into King George Sound, I did see several blows heading in to the sound when we were travelling with the cow and calf, so we will stay alert.

We have not travelled too far before I see a disturbance and as we approach we find a juvenile humpback surrounded by about 30 Common Dolphins. We knock the engines out of gear as the dolphins head over to us and the young whale follows. It gets to about 20 metres away and then turns and swims away.  Some of the dolphins stay with us and when the whale is far enough away we engage the engines and idle away. As we increase the revs dolphins come to the bow and start to ride the bow wave.

Now we head towards Whale-world and along Goode Beach and back into the marina in time for lunch. Staying on the fly-bridge I am constantly keeping a lookout and today I see several blows half way across the Sound. We don't go to investigate this time.

Under Water Footage

We arrive at the boat knowing that the weather is closing in.

I can not raise Bernie on UHF this morning, so then called Whale-world and got hold of Peter Bell. He tells me that he saw blows out towards Michaelmas Island at about 0830 hours.

We head out around the mussel leases off Mistaken Island and head in towards Whale-world and there 600 metres ahead I spot 2 Humpbacks. They are rolling around on the surface and I see they are surrounded by Bottle-nose dolphins. We get close take the engines out of gear and its not long before the dolphins are all around us. They are followed by the whales.

The other charter boat arrives some time latter and now its started to rain. So glad we have a large cabin, large under cover aft deck and a covered fly-bridge. The winds are strengthening and the whales are not going any where so I decide to stay with these whales. The other boat leaves.

We enjoy a hot coffee with whales swimming around us. Several times the whales swim in close, at times off the bow, round the stern and underneath us. They do this several times. After about the third time I think about trying to record this on my Go-pro. I attach it to a boat hook and place it over the side of the boat. I have now checked this and although its not the best footage I have ever seen I can see with a little more work we may be able to get some great images.

When the whales have had enough we continue towards Whale-world to find 2 more whales about 1km away. This pair are cruising towards Marine Drive so we let them go and head in towards the fishing boat anchored off Goode Beach.

As we cruise along the weed line, just off the beach on our way home, we come across Brian Sell, a local fisherman catching squid. Some of our passengers would like to know where they can purchase a feed, we will give them a map back in the office.

Too Many To Count (Some passengers said)

Another great day weather wise today.

I drive around Marine Drive on my way to the boat this morning and find Bernie feeding the magpies. We spot several blows out deep.

We head out of the channel and while I'm chatting to Bernie on the radio Eve comes out to say she has seen a blow off the port side. We slow and I relay to Bernie what Eve has seen. Bernie says he thought he saw a disturbance but cant confirm a whale, but he has been looking deep most of the time. We continue towards Limestone Head. We chat about the young whale we have seen recently around Seal Rock, so we are keeping a look out.

Eve comes to the fly-bridge with my morning coffee (What happened to my muffin Eve) and I tell all of the passengers to enjoy morning tea before we find a whale. It has not been 5 minutes and passengers along side me spot a blow off in the distance.

We are about 800 metres off the head land and two whales are heading towards Bald Head. They are very quiet, taking 2 breaths and then diving for some time.
All of our passengers now know what to look for and now we are seeing whale blows popping up all over.  We head off to find some that may be more active. We go to the closest pair and they dive too.

BREACH is the cry and people are pointing towards the rocks. I saw the splash.
BREACH again but this time out deep. :)

We find another pair of whales, follow until they dive then turn and make our way east to find the next pod of whales that are heading toward the west. Three off to the starboard side but we are heading to three whales that are playing on the surface. They stop and now the 3 starboard side, are tail slapping.

BREACH in the sun. (I saw this one)

Blows north of us heading into King George Sound.
Blows out deep, blows east, blows south. Several passengers state that there are too many whales to count.

BREACH out deep. :)
BREACH. A whale has breached off to our starboard side. Now people are checking to see if they have captured it. :)
 
We head towards the 3 whales and follow them leaving them as they head around Bald Head. We go into the cove and find some New Zealand Fur Seals. Now heading East again to find some more whales. We have several pods heading our way, but some way off there is quite a disturbance on the surface. From the fly-bridge I can see whales rising out of the water some distance then falling back into the water and then continuing on there way.

We find 4 whales. As they travel west they are staying close to the surface, we can see their white bellies as they roll over under the surface.
They are crashing into each other and at times rising 1/3 out of the water then falling back in. Some times arching their backs and coming to a sudden stop, to then lift their tail and dive, just to break the surface with-in a few body lengths. They are cruising and the sound of the breaths is some thing to hear when they all break  the surface at once.

Motor drives are working over time until we leave these whales as they round Bald Head.

More whales are heading towards us from the east but its time to head back to the marina.

We spot a juvenile and slow the motors as we pass by. Then he slaps his tail on the surface and dives.
BREACH.  :)
The young whale has come clean out of the water, rolled over on its back and now crashes back to the surface to screams from our passengers who were lucky enough to see it.

Ok now we can head home via Whale-world and Goode Beach.

Juveniles.

The forecast was for better weather today than yesterday, so I should not have been surprised when I arrived at the boat to find no wind and clear blue skies.

We chat to "Bernie" on the UHF radio as we leave Princess Royal Harbour and he tells us he cant see any whales inside King George Sound at this time. We head towards Limestone Head when "Bernie" calls to say he has seen something over near the Perth Dive Site. We head in that direction and its not long before we find a young humpback whale.

These young whales we are seeing may be 2 years old and have been left on the south coast by their mothers, who will be back in the mating cycle this year. Whales mate every 3 years, with a gestation period of 9 months they will mate this year, calf next year and stay in Antarctica the following year to wean  their young. Then may be some of the 2 year olds follow mum as she heads north and she slips away at the coast when she can. Well our young whale I think has been here for 4 days, and although he has cut loose at times and put on a great show for those lucky enough to see it from whale world.

But today he was pretty quiet, so after a bit of a look we headed off to see what we could find.
We head out towards Michaelmas Island to find another young whale. This whale is also a bit uncooperative first but then starts to head toward Bald Head so we can travel along side.

The sea is calm the sky is blue and it makes watching this young whale easy as it swims just under the surface. We travel home via Whale-world, Water Bay Cove, Goode Beach and Mistaken Island and I get a bit of a rest when all the kids on board have a turn driving.

2 Humpbacks Enter Princess Royal Harbour

Clear skies and a light breeze from the north greet us when we arrive at the boat.
We head out towards Limestone Head and Helen one of our passengers thinks that she has seen a blow over towards Seal Rock. I slow the boat and within a few minutes we spot 2 blows.

With-in a few minutes of us following this pair of adult humpbacks, one throws its self out of the water backwards. The whales then continue the journey over towards Middleton Beach. At one point swimming up to the side of a ship that is at anchor in King George Sound much to the surprise of the ships crew.

Peter Bell from Whale-world phoned to let me know that he had 2 whales, just several hundred metres off whale world, that were slapping their tails on the surface.  But there was no need to leave these guys as at times they would get curious and come over to check us out.

We follow the whales until they arrive off Marine Drive and we can hear screams coming from a group of children standing at one of the lookouts. The whales cruise around not quite sure which way to go. Now quite a few people have gathered at the APEX lookout on Marine Drive. When the whales enter and then leave the channel entrance we leave and head back to the marina.

Beautiful weather and a very relaxing cruise.

Surfing Humpback

We leave the jetty with clear skies and little wind.
As we leave Princes Royal Harbour Bernie calls on the radio to say there are whales out near the islands. So we head in that direction.

I am deep in-conversation with some of the passengers who have joined me on the fly-bridge, when Eve comes up to tell me she has seen a very soft blow off to our port side some 500 metres away. We go over to investigate. This young whale is pretty quiet, we stay with it for a little while until I see several blows further out to sea.

We find 2 whales cruising towards Bald Head but they surface take one breath and then dive again. Too had to get a good look at this pair. There are two more 800 metres to the east, these guys are a bit better they are cruising towards Bald Head then take a left turn and head south.

Ok, there are more whales over towards the south eastern end of Breaksea Island, the seas are calm so we head that way. As we get closer we count 6 blows as the whales surface. Getting closer now and the whales have split into two pods. One pod swimming close to Breaksea Island in a westerly direction the other 600m further south. We cruise with these whales either side of us until they enter King George Sound. Now the two pods come back together and at times we see whales launching them self half out of the water.

The weather is getting better, its a great day to be out on the water. We stick with these whales until they are well inside port limits, we are going to be late home but no one on-board has any problems with this.

Now we are heading home and spot a large pod of common dolphins heading towards us. I slow to half speed as the dolphins reach us and start surfing at the bow. Still cruising at this speed, dolphins are now in our wake. Looking back at the dolphins I spot a small whale heading into our wake and then turning and surfing in our wake just as the dolphins were. I reduce revs and spin the wheel around to go back and have a quick look at this small whale. I think it was the whale we found right at the start of our cruise. Now this whale is surrounded by the dolphins, I wonder if this small whale is seeking company and wonder if it will find the pod of 6 that are about 1km away.

What A Differance A Day Makes

After yesterday's sightings we are all keen to go and see what we can find.

Bernie has come down to the marina to tell us that he has seen several blows north of Michaelmas Island out in the area of Casey's Beach. As we leave Princess Royal Harbour the North Easterly is picking up but because of information from Bernie it does not worry me as we will be sheltered off Casey Beach. Travelling this way if the whales are not on the northern side of the sound the wind will be behind us as we travel through the rest of the sound.

We enjoy a coffee as we make our way towards Gull Rock and then travel along the coast keeping an eye out for the tell tail blows of the humpbacks as they migrate north.

We get to Casey Beach with no sightings. We know the route that the whales are taking as the come from Antarctica and head north. Hitting the coast east of Albany and heading west, some times entering King George Sound other times just skirting the edge.

So now we are heading towards Michaelmas Island and I am trying to keep the spray from reaching me on the fly-bridge, its not rough but cutting across the seas and the wind is picking up the spray.

We are now heading towards Bald Head with the wind behind us, I hope we find a whale soon. Now we have many white caps covering the sound and finding whales is getting harder. Then I see a faint blow over east of Seal Island. We make our way towards where I have seen the blow and now every body is looking out.

The whale is a juvenile humpback and is very quiet. We stay with it for a little while, but we are having trouble working out where it will next surface. It is a little choppy so I make the decision to head back towards Michaelmas Island and see if we can find any thing out there.

We have no luck so on out cruise home I offer all of my passengers a free return ticket to try again.

Beautiful Weather

We get to the boat and what a beautiful day. I have come via Marine Drive and seen blows in King George Sound. We head out and the first whale we find is east of Seal Rock. It is a young whale and it is surrounded by dolphins.

It does not seam to be moving too far so we turn off the engines. At one point the whale is just metres from us and then turns and starts swimming towards Limestone Head, we look up to see blows about 800 metres away so we head in that direction.

We find 3 Adult Humpbacks and their seams to be a bit going on here. Before we get there we see the whales are now heading towards us we stop and turn with them as they pass by. The 3 adults bash in to each other as they pass and then we see 1 more adult cruising in to join them. We follow for a while then see breaching whales out deeper.

We all want to get closer but how long will the breaching continue? Now the whales deep are slapping their tails on the surface. We have to go and see what is going on. We are far enough away so we can increase the revs and are now doing about 18 knots in an easterly direction. About 400 metres away from the whales as we decrease revs and the tail slapping stop.

The whales are now cruising towards Bald Head. As they do rolling over and at times their petrel fin breaking the surface. Its 2 small humpbacks and we follow hoping for another breach close by. Its time to head home but I see a blow over towards Gull Rock. We decide its only diesel so we head over to investigate. The phone rings and its the local ABC radio station asking what's happening with the whales. I drop the revs back and the first whale we saw this morning is cruising past.

We start off again but we see the large blow only one more time and can find no trace at a whale in the Gull Rock area. Its a great day with no wind and very few clouds. Our passengers are all very happy, mother nature has helped me do a great job today.

Which Way Are You Going Now?

After a 60th birthday celebration Eve arrived early to take down all the decorations before today's passengers board the boat. The weather is calm but as we make our way across the sound it seems that the SSE winds have arrived early and we get a very light drizzle. We head to Limestone Head and with no sightings turn to Breaksea Island. We round the north eastern end of the island and then head back towards Bald Head. Misty rain is making it hard, but out of the corner of my eye I spot a couple of blows. We turn and head further south catching up with 2 Humpbacks as the head towards Bald Head. We follow and now whales seem to be appearing every where, several large splashes even further south tell us that whales are now breaching. Some times when you spot a whale breach you can be tempted to head straight to it, but some times a whale will only breach once and then stop. We choose a whale that is standing on its head and waving it tail to attract our attention. As we get to with in 250 metres the whales dive and are next seen heading east. Come on guys that's the wrong way!!!! We follow and now they are heading west. Out next sighting is as they lift their tails and take a dive so we head back towards the marina.

The Memory Bank.

After having a couple of days when we only had a couple of people who wished to cruise, not enough passengers to leave the jetty.  Heading out with clear skies but knowing that the winds would soon strengthen and hoping we could find some whales before the weather arrives. We head towards Bald Head and then over towards Breaksea Island. The wind is starting to get stronger and I don't wish to head too far out unless I am sure of finding some whales. We enjoy some morning tea as we cruise on the northern side of the island. Then after spending some time watching New Zealand Fur Seals at the eastern end of Breaksea Island. We spot a couple of blows. Making our way towards the blows we thing we have 3 humpbacks. Now we can just find 1 young whale cruising al alone. As we travel with it then we spot the other whales. Their are 3 more whales ( 2 adults and 1 juvenile)  about 400 metres away from the lone juvenile. We are now between the 2 pods and as we travel along I think that we have a new born calf with the adults.  As we follow for some time the young whale off to our left suddenly breaches about 50 metres away from us. Too quickly for any one to catch on film but those on the fly-bridge with me are all very pleased that we had seen it. The talk was then about some times just filing these things in the memory bank and not being to worried that we did not capture on film. We stick with the whales for some time and then head back towards town in time for lunch.

Whale reported to CALM

With clouds being pushed around with a North Easterly breeze we head towards Limestone Head. I had seen several blows out deep on the Humpback Highway (a line between Bald Head and Breaksea Island) Slowing the motors down a little I spot a blow about 1 km east of us, at the same time as some of our passengers. We continue slowly and then we spot a soft blow astern. As we get closer to this very quiet whale we see that it is very small and it dose not look very healthy. The whale had red marks on its back and on its tail. At one point I thought I saw some thing trailing from the whales tail but we could not get close enough to get a better look. Discussion with passengers and it seems that I was not the only one to think there is some thing trailing from this whale. As I scan the rest of King George Sound I spot several blows towards Michaelmas Island. As we leave the sick whale I contact the local authorities CALM and although I cant speak to a officer I leave a message detailing the area the whale is in and the condition that this whale is in. We get to the island to find 3 young humpbacks and shortly after we knock the motors out of gear the pod changes direction and swims over to us. At times just metres off the stern the whales seem to be diving and then surfacing 20 metres from where they lifted their tail to start their dive. We stay with them for some time and as they head towards Limestone Head we head back towards the marina.

First whales for cruise season.

Well it was a little overcast, but we have very light winds. The round the streets car race in Albany is playing havoc with people trying to get around the road detours. We leave the marina a little late so step up the pace a little. Heading out towards Limestone Head I spot a faint blow, reducing revs as I am not sure which way the whales are travelling. They are quiet so we knock the motors out of gear and then Eve spots a blow back towards town. We idle back to where the whales were last seen and I hear a blow behind us. Looking off the stern the whales are swimming towards us. Once again I take the engines out of gear and we drift as the whales swim up close to the joy of some of our Indian passengers. The whales are quiet and they swim around us and then off toward the headland. We follow them until they head around Bald Head. We head in toward some New Zealand Fur Seals and then cruise along the coast towards home. Even being overcast passengers comment on the beautiful colours of the water, we do live in a pretty place.

A Little Hit & Miss.

With great anticipation we leave the marina this morning.  Cruising out of Princess Royal Harbour I take my position up on the fly-bridge a great place to keep a good look out for any evidence of a whale. We had just 6 people join us on our first whale -watching cruise for this season. We head towards Mistaken Island and cruise through the passage. Then head through Frenchman Bay and towards Limestone Head. No sightings so we continue towards Breaksea Island. Cruising slowly along the northern side of the island we enjoy a spot of morning tea :) Spending some time watching the lazy New Zealand Fur Seals and then over towards Nanarup Beach. Still no sightings so we head through the centre of King George Sound towards the marina. We did not see any whales today but we did cover a lot of ground in search of them. On our way home I said to the passengers that they were welcome to join us again at any time this season. With genuine surprise they were very happy that we would make such an offer. But as I said we want to show our clients a whale and our job is not done until we have.

2013 Whale-watching season will get under-way this weekend 1st June. Whales have all ready be spotted in King George Sound. We had a group of divers on board last weekend and our spotter Bernie phoned me to say there were 2 Humpback whales between Limestone Head and Breaksea Island. Sunday while the divers were enjoying a dive on the HMAS Perth those of us left on board spotted several whales north of us. They were half way across the Sound and stayed in the same area for about 2 hours. They were heading out of the Sound when we headed home. The following day with a friend I did the Bald Head walk and spotted 2 pods of what looked like humpback whales entering and leaving the Sound. Looking forward to the up coming whale watching season and what is in store for us.