8 Humpbacks

Peter Bell from Discovery Bay, (Whale World) txt's to say whales are at the dive site HMAS Perth at 0900 hours. We head out and head straight towards Seal Rock. As we get about half way there Jason has joined me and straight away says he can see a whale slapping its tail on the water over towards Limestone Head. It makes sense the whales Peter could be there no troubles. I increase revs and its not long before we are in the area, but cant find the whales easy. Looking, looking, looking.

There they are, WOW they seam quiet for whales that were slapping their tails on the surface not 10 minutes ago. The 2 humpback whales are small and just cruising toward Bald Head just metres off the coast. We follow at times having to stop and wait as the whales are in no rush.
We follow until the whales head out past Bald Head, We are now out in the Southern Ocean and yes we have a bit of swell out here.
We see blows east so head that way to find 2 whales taking several breaths and then diving.

Ok more blows several hundred metres away towards Breaksea Island, so off we go.
We find 4 Humpbacks spending time on the surface at times lurching out of the water. We follow as these whales head west towards Bald Head. The whales are ahead of us and we stop before we head off to check out the seals. Jason who is scanning the area lets every one know we have now 2 whales heading up behind us.
We watch them cruise past and then head off to the seals for a look before we head back in to King George Sound.

As we cruise past Discovery Bay, (Whale World) Jason comes to the fly bridge and as he sits down I say to him that there are two whales over towards a ship that is at anchor. We think they are travelling towards Goode Beach and we talk about cutting them off at the pass.
"Best laid plans of mice and men are bound to go astray"

We head to mid way along Goode Beach after we have explained to our passengers some of the history of the old whaling station. But we don't see the whales blow again. We are running late so we dont worry too much, cutting between Mistaken Island we still cant spot the whales and now the talk is about the may be them being a cow and calf as the second blow was very small and they are very quiet. I guess we will never know.

First Calf For Season

Heading out today the rain cleared and the sun shone through the clouds.
We find 2 whales and follow for a while until they go quiet.
We head east and see blows quickly but it is not regular and although we are travelling slow we don't see again.
We do see a huge splash which can only be one thing a whale breaching some km away from us. I am tempted to travel out to it, but I know that it may be the only breach that the whale does.
As I scan around the vessel I see a blow back towards town.
We head in that direction to find the first Humpback cow and calf for this season.
We stick with these whales as they slowly cruise towards Limestone Head and then cruise along the coast. We leave them and check out 3 humpbacks in the seal cove at Bald Head. We check out the seals and head home, getting back to the marina at about 1245.
A good days whale watching.

Over 10 Whales For Cruise

Strong winds were forecast for Albany this morning but when I arrive at the boat we have very little wind.
We head out and talk to Bernie, who tells us that all the whales are out on the line.
It takes us about 35 minutes to get to where we pick up the first blows. But we see it a couple of times and then its gone. We see blows off towards Breaksea Island and there may be 4-5 whales in this pod so we head in that direction.

As we get closer the pod has broken up. We find 4-5 heading towards Bald Head, 2 whales heading west to Albany, 2 whales several hundred metres north and 3 whales heading south west.
We follow the larger pod as they are charging around with no real direction.
I have the Go-pro mounted on the fly bridge and now recording.
(I am still to go through the footage and see what we captured)
We follow these whales as they slowly head towards Bald Head with many changes in direction.

Now we have one of the other pods join in and the whales become even more active, with whales coming half out of the water or stopping and arching their backs and then diving.
The pod starts to move now faster in any direction. At one point the pod is about 3oo metres from a pod of 3 and there is an all-mighty splash and all the whales have dived. Now foot prints start to appear in the direction of the pod of 3. The whales are charging in that direction just under the surface of the water and when the 2 pods connect the splashes erupt again. It would be amazing to see what happens under the surface at these times. We are now not far from the seals at Bald Head and its about time to head home. We have been watching whales now for about 90 minutes and we all have some photos and video to check to see if we captured any thing we can share with all our friends.

We head home and the wind has increased as forecast wonder what we will have tomorrow.

How Many Whales Today?

Sunday saw a magic day.
Why would you live any where else?
School holidays coming to an end so its not too busy.
We head out towards Bald Head and as we pass Seal Rock while deep in conversation with passengers, blows are spotted off towards Michaelmas Island, about 1km away. We head over and cant find the whales. Ok where did they go.

There they are back there from where we came. What how could they travel so fast. We head back towards Goode Beach. We get close to the foot print and what would you know blows are seen close to where we just left. Ok so we have several whales that are not moving far, but are 700 metres apart.

If they don't want to be watched lets find some that do.
We are now heading east again I spot several blows towards the islands. It look like 4 or 5 whales and they are staying on the surface so we should get a good look. We get closer and now we have several pods. 4-5 here, 3 over there, 2 heading that way and 2 more 200 metres away. Which one's do we follow?
That decision is made easy as the larger pod and breaking the surface constantly. We follow at idle at times having to stop as the whales cut across our bow and then turn and head back in the general direction of Limestone Head.

As we follow these whales ahead we see 600 metres ahead 2 more whales heading west. Our pod slows and change direction and swim around behind the pair that are heading west. They now are close to the land and cruising along the rocks. The other whale watching vessel is very close to the rocks and travelling into King George Sound. The whales dive and go under their boat and continue on their way. We turn and cruise the coast back to the Marina. The wind is light, the sea is flat calm, the sky is blue what a great day for a winters day.

Some Hard Days

Well been a bit slack keeping on top of the updates. Had a couple of hard days because of weather and quiet whales.
But yesterday we were heading out to the line when we spotted breaches. The whale was some distance away from us and heading towards Bald Head. We could see the breaches the whale was putting on a good show. As we got closer the whale went quiet. We were about 500 metres away when a whale watching RIB went past us at speed.
The vessel did not slow and I made comment that he had not seen the whale. I hoped that the whale was not in the path of the vessel and then the whale breached between the RIB and the coast. The RIB then slowed and came to a stop.
After that breach the whale dived and we could not find it for some time. We idle along the coast. We thought it would be travelling around Bald Head and continue in a westerly direction. Not to be.
The whale we spot blows behind us and some distance off the land.

We spot blows 800 metres SE so head in that direction as they are now tail slapping. The whales dive and when they surface they are heading west.
We follow for some time and then pick up 2 more whales in the lee of Bald Head.
We cruise in to check out the seals on our way home. As we re-enter King George Sound we find 2 more whale and follow for a little while as they head towards Seal Rock.

Later we have a party on board and we leave the marina at 3pm. As we idle out just north of the channel we are watching a grain ship head out the channel with the aid of the local tugs. We are listening to the two way and hear Nigel tell the pilot that a whale is just off the starboard bow. I look over to see a whale tail just the other side of the ship and think it may be cutting it just a little fine. Cant stop the ship so the whale would loose that fight. The whale pops up behind us and continues towards Middleton Beach. We follow as the whale goes in to Ellen Cove turns and swims toward Mistaken Island.
 
We leave them and head over to the ship that is now coming into port with the aid of the tugs and pilot. As the ship enters the channel we head back to Ellen Cove where we crank up the BBQ and Mount Barker Chickens enjoy there party.

Double Breach

Well Folks as promised thanks to Peter Woods and Sally Woods here are the pictures of the double breach, we enjoyed on Sunday afternoon. 
Check out the west tomorrow too, as Di Sinclair-Thomas Photography, May make the front page with her pictures from Sunday.

Synchronised Breaches

Well folks what a day we had yesterday.
Firstly finding 6 humpbacks in King George Sound on our morning cruise. With 55 people on board and still heaps of room for people to get a good view as the whales cruise in pairs.

Then in the afternoon cruising out deeper to firstly find a large Southern Right whale cruising west outside King George Sound. I suspect it may have been a cow looking for some space to have a baby.
Several Humpbacks were also seen cruising past. We dropped in to the seals and then as we entered the sound breaches were seen over towards Breaksea Island. We made full noise and it did not take long before we were in the area. We find 2 humpbacks and at one time we witness synchronised breaches from both whales. Of course my camera was down stairs and I didn't get it out but, several people on board did get some great shots. 

Well done Di :)
 
And I have just received a call from Sally to arrange to pick up some pictures of the double breach.

Leaving the whales and heading home we find 2 Southern Rights. They are 1 km inside the Sound so we will be looking for these guys along Middleton Beach or over towards Gull rock over the next few days.

No Cruising today because of strong winds. We hope they are gone tomorrow but the forecast is not the best.

Whales Breaching

With strong winds from Sunday to Tuesday then a tour Wednesday and Thursday strong winds Friday and the chance to cruise Saturday.

We have not got into the swing these school holidays. And the weather is not finished by the look at Mondays forecast.

We head out this morning and there is a bit of yesterdays swell still running. The wind is from the north east and not to strong but to keep things comfortable I head towards Michaelmas Island. We find several pods of dolphins by the time we have reached the Islands and had a look at the Seals.
We think we have seen a blow towards the east of Breaksea but think that we will be better suited to head to the southern side of the island to catch the whale as it heads towards Bald Head.

As we round the western end of the island, Bernie calls us up to say a whale has shown its self over towards Seal Rock. Knowing conditions are better in the sound we head in that direction.
We find 4 humpbacks heading towards the twin sisters. They are starting to become a bit active and at times we see them half out of the water. We follow as they turn and head towards Limestone Head. As we follow the pod, a pod of bottle nose dolphins joins them. This creates more mayhem with the whales as they charge around.

We follow until they reach Limestone Head and then head home. As we cross the sound we spot blows over to the north some thing to look for when we head back out for an afternoon cruise.
We arrive back in time for Jason and I to get a bit of lunch before we head out again with some more keen sailors. We keep a look out for the whales we spotted when we were on our way but don't see any thing until we are close to Limestone Head. We find a small quiet whale. Then we spot more blows out deeper. We spend some time going from one pair of whales to the next, then looking around to find more whales close by.

Problem being the whales were not staying on the surface very long and having 50 metre deep water to play in, it can make our job hard.

That is until whales start breaching around us. Ok now which ones do we go too. Whales are breaching in front of us and when they stop they lay on the surface and slap their pectoral fins on the surface of the water.

Now we have them breaching behind us too. And we are caught half way between. We find several more whales in total about 15 for the afternoon cruise.

Close Call

We leave Princess Royal Harbour and Bernie is on the radio telling us 2 whales are east of the ship to the south. 2 whales are headed into Goode Beach and he has not seen them come out and there are blows all along the line.

We head to the ship and spot the first 2 whales large adults taking 2 breaths and diving. Ok lets go to the whales over towards Seal Rock that now are slapping their pectoral fins on the sea surface. As we head in that direction now they are slapping their tails too.

I ask Jason to bring my camera bag to the fly bridge today could be a good day for some action pictures. Calm seas, blue skies and active whales.
Problem being some one forgot to tell the whales. They stop as we get close and head east with 50 metres between each other.
As we pass Seal Rock a mate calls on the radio to tell me that whales are breaching out on the line.
We head in that direction.

We see several whales off our port side but continue east. We spot whale blows out deep but think it may be better to head to the whales we have now passed.

The whales are back towards town and heading to Limestone Head.
We get some distance from them and they turn and head towards us.
I put the boat in neutral and come to a stop. the whales are still hundreds of metres away but heading straight at us. Jason turns off the motors and the next time we see the whales they are 50 metres up wind of us. Now staying just under the surface we can see them approach our bow. They surface close enough to us that people now get covered in their blow as it drifts down over those standing on the bow. they swim past us and I think that they will continue on their way but they turn and swim under the boat to surface once again up wind of us.  
Cameras are now clicking away and everyone is walking around the boat trying to get the best look.  

The other whale watching vessel is now just off our stern. They have travelled along side the whales from the time they changed direction and have dropped their sail and luffed up, just down wind of us. We are drifting close to them as the whales come from our bow down our starboard side and swim under the surface between the 2 vessels. At one stage we have to warn the other skipper that we now have just 4 metres between the vessels and as he has passengers with their legs hanging over his bow, he should go astern as he still has his engines running.

The whales are now up wind again and turn to go past our bow once again. They dive and I think they are now heading towards Bald Head. Some time passes and Jason asks if he should start the motors? I have not seen the whales so ask him to hold off until I have. Just as I do I spot a whale just under our bow coming to the surface. It is a little smaller than the 2 that were doing laps around us, it takes 1 breath and dives, heading in the same direction as it's mates.
We wait for a while and then head out to the seals at Breaksea Cove.

As we head back in to the sound the whales we were watching are cruising close to the rocks, we give them a wide berth and head for home.
We cruise along a tide line where we find some dolphins that join us for a while and watch sea gannets dive for the bait fish. Some diving just metres from the boat. I txt a local fisherman to inform him of the bait fish and he calls to find out their location as fish have been a bit hard to find and are thinking of coming out for a look.

Half way across the sound we spot 2 whales heading east they are may be 2 km away so we just let them go, sure that they are the whales we spotted first close to the ship right at the start of our tour.

Back to the marina and we ask people to up load any good pictures to the page if they can.
Now to get ready for a 70th birthday party on board latter today.

How Cold is Today?

How cold is it this morning? 

We have a good crowd on and the sky is clear and as yet the winds have not picked up.

I have seen several whales from Marine Drive and when I talk to Bernie he tells me a couple of whales are between "The Perth" and Seal Rock heading east. 

I increase revs as I know the wind is forecast to increase and these whales are on their way. Bernie also says there was a whale heading towards Goode Beach.

We find the whales close to Limestone Head, they are about 500 metres away I reduce revs and head in the general area they have lifted their tails and dived. We cruise for a while at idle and then I see the whales just off our bow heading up to the surface to take a breath. I take the boat out of gear and the whales swim past our bow. Take two breaths and dive again.
We follow but these whales are spending a lot of time travelling deep and we have spotted several blows deeper. 

In all we see about 4 different pods of whales travelling on the line.
The first pod we find has 6 whales in it and they are spending time on the surface as they travel. Some good tail shots are captured but it can be harder than first thought to capture that great shot. Some people standing with me on the fly bridge have decided to just store it in "the memory bank"
These whales head off around Bald head and there are several pods behind us. 

We go into the seal cove to check out some New Zealand Fur seals.

We leave the seals and as we do the whales that we first saw are cruising past us. We watch them go and head to a pod coming from Breaksea Island. There are 2 in this pod. These whales dive so we head to the next pod. its a single whale heading out of King George Sound towards Breaksea.
The winds are picking up so I head into the Sound and we find a very small humpback with no particular place to go, we follow for some time but he is hard to track.

Its now 1135hours so we head for the marina.
Most have headed down stars to the warm cabin but Ill continue to drive from the fly bridge as it gives better visibility.

But its still Very cold:)

Get The Go-Pro Out

We are joined by some brave souls knowing that we were going to be picking up 35 Dardanup primary school children from Camp Quaranup.

We leave Princess Royal Harbour and Bernie is on the radio saying that 2 whales east of Mistaken Island and heading towards Goode Beach and 2 whales had already gone in that direction and they must be close to the beach as he had not seen them for a while.

We find 2 large humpbacks and tag along with screams of joy and surprise from lots of the year sevens. Conditions are very calm quite a surprise after yesterdays Gail Warning. We spot the whales over close to Water Bay Cove and as the whales we are with turn and head towards Seal Rock we go to check the others and find a young whale with a heap of Bottlenose dolphins swimming near by.

We follow as they cruise past Whale World. We sit off Flat Rock and watch as the whales heads between the rock and shore. The whale turns and heads out towards us. I ask Jason to turn off the motors and the whale swims past us. Then turns and swims back to the boat. Standing on the fly bridge it is easy to watch the whale swim around the boat. The kids are going from one side to the other, bow to stern and back to the bow . Spy hoping and laying along side us at times.

"Oh I love it when a plan comes together."

Jason suggests I break out the gopro so I head down stairs to set it up on a boat hook. Now I am asking those upstairs where the whale is. It seems he is swimming to the bow and then heading off a hundred metres and then turning and coming back to the bow. I don't get any video.

Mental note to self " Get Go-Pro set up every day before we leave the marina and start to use as soon as the whale comes close to the boat"