Monday 17 June 2013

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.

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