A few good pictures from the other day. We are seeing whales every cruise and the Southern Right Whales arrived Saturday in numbers. The days count was 11 Southern Rights and 6 Humpbacks.

Some Days are Diamonds

Well at last, after some computer problems, now after recovery. I have been able to go through over 400 pictures taken of this young Humpback whale. We spent over an hour being entertained by this young whale. Two adult Humpbacks at one point swam past taking no notice of what was going on some several hundred metres from them as they passed by.

The season started off a little slow, but over the past 10 days we have enjoyed whales every day we have cruised. Last Saturday with stunning weather conditions we had 3 adult humpbacks swimming around us for about 30 minutes.

But not all days are diamonds.
We have had a couple of days when although we find several pods of young whales they just didn't want to interact or to be watched at all. Sunday 28th we find 5 Southern Right Whales at Breaksea Cove. This is the earliest in 18 years I have seen Southern Rights in King George Sound. May be this will be a big season for these whales.

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.

2 Hours with The Whales

After 2 days of strong winds the fans were turned down today, allowing us to head out towards Limestone Head I spot a some white water over towards Goode Beach, some 600 metres away. I don't see it again, but ask Jason who has joined me on the fly bridge with a coffee to keep a look out in that direction as we continue on.

"BREACH" is the cry from Jason and with out looking I start turning in the direction of Goode Beach.

Bernie calls over the radio asking what we have seen as the breach was very close to the beach and out of Bernie's field of view.
We arrive to find 2 humpbacks heading out from the beach now. We loose them for a while and then foot prints appear just astern of us. The whales have swum under us and pop up on our port side and are heading into the mussel lease.

The other whale watching vessel has heard our radio conversation with Bernie and is now in the area too, although they have no idea where the whales are. They leave but we follow the whales around the Twin Sisters and towards Outer Brambles. The whales head towards Marine Drive and now the car parks are filling and people are out of their cars as the whales get to Whale Head Rock and pass 2 snorkellers. They head into Ellen Cove turn and then head towards Gull Rock. 

We leave them after spending 2 hours slowly cruising with them, getting back to the marina after 1215 hours.

Ok we have only seen 2 whales but they were cruising and not in the 5 metre swell that is running outside King George Sound, We have missed the rain and at times whales have been very close to us. 
Over all a pretty good day.

Sheltered whales

We leave Princess Royal Harbour and Bernie tells me that 2 whales are out by the ship at anchor. We head in that direction and find the whales heading towards Michaelmas Island slowly. They are joined by 10 to 15 Bottle nose dolphins. Chasing them as they do giving some good photos.

With the help of Dora and Boots, steering the boat, a couple of soft K9 toys that are along for the ride. We follow enjoying morning tea as we are in King George Sound and sheltered from the 4.5 metre swell that has been forecast out side.

The whales are cruising towards Herald Reef. We leave them and cruise the northern side of Michaelmas, spotting a breach further east.
We find 2 humpbacks heading towards the eastern end of Breaksea Island and 3 whales back between the islands about level with the light house.

Then as they head around the east end of  the island, we head back to shelter between the islands. More whales north east of Breaksea and then when we head back towards home we find 2 more humpbacks heading between the island.

Home by 1230 and the kids are giving me high fives for finding whales and letting the dogs have a drive.

Several Small Whales

Could it get any better. 
Welcome to Albany in winter. Light winds, blue skies and a glassy sea. 

We head out with word that whales were seen at Bald Head at 0800 hours so we head in that direction hoping that the whales have enter King George Sound. 
As we head out though Jason thinks he has seen a blow over towards Gull Rock. We find some dolphins on the way and then as we don't see the blow a second time so put out a call to vessels in the area. A reply comes back that no whales have been seen in the area so we change direction and then we spot a blow between us and Breaksea Island. 

Its like glass and we can see the whale as it cruises through the water heading towards Breaksea. We follow but the whale is quiet as I decide to leave and look further out I see a breach about 1km away. We find a very small Humpback its about 8 metres long. He has quietened down now so we leave and head towards Bald Head. Its even calmer out here than it was yesterday. 

We see several blows deep and now the first whale we spotted is breaching. But we are 500 metres away. We continue on our way, as we get closer to Bald Head we have more whales breaching, but they only do it once then stop. 

We find the seals chat to a fisherman catching some Breaksea Cod and then head for home. As we make our way back into King George Sound we spot two more whales and we idle along side until we are close to Seal Rock and the whales now turn and head east. 

 All the whales have been quit small non much over 10 metres. We cruise into Goode Beach through the passage at mistaken Island and on home once again getting back to the marina just before 1pm. 
Another relaxing day on the water.

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.

Humpback Cow & Calf

For the past 4 days we have found this Humpback Calf with his mother in King George Sound.
Friday we also found 4 Southern Right Whales half way between Limestone Head and Bald Head. We had heard there were 4 Southern Rights at Two Peoples Bay the previous Monday. Saturday after watching the cow and calf, we found 5 humpbacks in 2 pods. Sunday we watched mother and calf and then found 3 humpbacks just a little further east. Sunday afternoon we found them again. With 3 more humpbacks out a little once again. In the time we have watched the mother and calf we have seen the cow breach several times. I have never seen a cow with such a young calf breach ever before. We are told that until a humpback calf is about 14 days old their dorsal fin will be bent over.  As you can see from the picture this calf fits that description.

Breaching Humpbacks

Its a great day and as we head out and chat to Bernie it sound as if all of the whales are out deep. That's fine as the weather is calm, a little cold but calm. We have a lady on board who has travelled the world to see whales and has warned me that she has not had a lot of luck in the past. I tell her that today will be different.

We get out on to the humpback highway and see a blow about 1 km away. We find 3 whales and follow them towards Bald Head they are just cruising. We see 2 whales about 500 metres out to sea and one blow inshore. We follow the 3 whales and as they get close to the land they slow down and at times swim to be close to the boat. 

My friend who was worried about not seeing whales has moved from her wheel chair to one of our comfortable club lounges and I have opened the window next to her so she has an uninterrupted view of these whales. Behind us now we have several large splashes in the distance. I watch to see if it continues and I can see a whale breaching so we head to take a closer look. As we arrive the whale breaches as if in slow motion. We follow and what a great show this whale puts on for our passengers. Looking around I see 2 more blows out to sea and a couple more further east. But we stick with the whale that is still breaching. We have now been watching this whale for about 30 minutes and I have taken about 100 pictures.  Here are a couple of those pictures.

7 Humpbacks Close, More Cruising By

Another beautiful day. Once again from a lookout on Marine Drive, I have seen several pods of whales making their way along the "Humpback Highway" We are joined by keen passengers on this great day. We enjoy morning tea as we make our way towards the "Highway" Bernie tells me that several whales have been seen all along the line and more whales east of Michaelmas Island. The first pod we find has 2 whales and they are just cruising, we watch them for some time and every one is pleased when the whales lift their tails from the water but I know this means that the whales will dive deep for a few minutes and then re-appear some distance away. We know more whales are coming up behind us and we are constantly looking for a breach.  We turn and head east leaving the first 2 whales to head past "Bald Head" The second pod we find have 3 whales, 1 larger whale and 2 smaller whales, most likely a couple of juveniles. As we follow them one of the smaller whales throws it self from the water tail first every time it comes to the surface. Very hard to capture but I can hear the whirl of camera motor drives every time the whale surfaces. They too get close to Bald Head and we leave them, to check on the "New Zealand Fur Seals" in "Bald Head Cove". I make comment that if I am ever reincarnated I wish to be a seal. They don't seem to do much. We head home and as we cross King George Sound we see whales breaching ahead, in the distance. By the time we get there the whales have stop breaching we stay with them long enough to confirm numbers and then head on our way. Getting back to the marina late no one seams to be worried, passengers are still going through the pictures they have  taken to see if they have captured the moment. It is easy now days to take 200 photos on a cruise if the whales are doing the right thing.

7 Whales

Calm conditions greet us today. I have spent time sitting at the car park on Marine Drive and seen 3 pods of whales cruising on the Humpback Highway. We head out towards Limestone Head, knowing that the whales I saw earlier from Marine Drive would now be well and truly past Bald Head and so we will not catch up with them. It dose not matter though as out spotter Bernie has seen several pods out on the line. We find the first pod, a pair of whales and they are just cruising. Looking east here come another 3 whales but one is making a bit of a splash. We go to get a closer look. The pod is made up of 2 large whales and a smaller one. Its the little one who is making the splash. We follow these guys until they get close to Bald Head and then we head off to check out seals in the Bald Head Cove. As we head in that direction we spot 2 whales off to our port side. We turn in that direction and the whales now head towards us. They disapiar for a little while, passengers question where they have gone. But then as if on key, a whale bursts from the water, within 100 metres from our vessel. Too quickly and unexpected for any one to get any pictures other than the splash as the whale crashes back to the sea surface.

Breaching Whales

Bernie comes down to the boat just before we depart the marina to tell me that there are 2 whales close to a boat that is currently at "Gia Batter Reef" But he tells me that they are very quiet. We head out over a beautifully calm King George Sound to find the boat but can not find the whales. Bernie radios me and tells me that it looks like a couple of quiet whales are out close to Breaksea Island, we continue slowly out towards the seal colony on Breaksea Island, still not finding any whales. We head towards Limestone Head and as we get close and no doubt with the passengers now thinking we will not see any whales, I spot 2 very quiet whales heading towards us close to the coast. The call of "there she blows"  brings everybody to the bow or upstairs to see what I have found. I knock the boat out of gear so we can see which way the whales are travelling. The whales appear off to our port side so we turn to follow them. In my mind I am thinking that this is going to be a quiet day with just a few tail shots form these whales for our passengers to capture. Then they break loose, both whales burst from the surface and continue to breach for about 20 minutes. At times breaching very close to us. These whales were so close at times as they burst from the water you could see every marking on their bellies. It is about now I am wondering why I left my camera on the back seat of my car back at the marina. The whales are making their way towards Bald Head, and after a while they start to quieten down. At times laying on their side and slapping their pectoral fin on the sea surface. We follow them a little further and then head home. With the whales behind us every body is busy checking to see if they had captured the spectacular show we had all witnessed. There were some great shots. Message to self "don't leave camera in car again".

Season Start

I wake to light N-NE winds and I head past Marine Drive on the way to the boat. Calm conditions for our first whale watching cruise. As I walk on board the boat to head out a call comes in from a local tug. Eric tells me that 2 Humpback whales are crossing the shipping channel not far from where he is waiting, for a wood chip ship, which will be brought into the port this morning. We find the whales very close to shore at Point King. They are very quiet maybe because the ship is now coming up the channel. We stick with these whales for some time, even enjoying morning tea. At times the whales do come close enough to get a good look but they are very quiet. We head off thinking me might find some dolphins for those children on board whom seem more interested in dolphins than whales. We cruise over towards Frenchman Bay going through the shallow channel at Mistaken Island. As we round the mussel lease I see a large splash out past Seal Rock.  We arrive to find 2 young humpbacks, if you were quick enough you may have been lucky enough to get some photos, of them breaching. May be they are starting to tire be cause they don't breach again while we are close. We follow them as the head towards Bald Head. We leave them as the water becomes confused and head towards home in time for lunch. I can relax now as I have all the children up on the fly-bridge, driving us home, as there parents capture the moments, the smiles tell the story.

"Spy Hopping Humpbacks"

Calm conditions greet us this morning as we head out of Princess Royal Harbour. Word is that the whales are at Limestone Head. So we put the hammer down so we will be with them in 20 Minutes. We find 2 Humpback whales cruising slowly into Frenchman Bay. We stay with them for some time and then I think that we must be able to find other whales that will give our passengers a better look. We head SE and see several blows about 1 km away, as I am making my way to these whales out of the corner of my eye I see a huge splash. Can only be one thing out here folks, A breaching whale, We turn and run the motors at about 2500 rpm hoping that we can cover the distance separating us quickly. The whale breaches a couple of times as we are on route. We travel along side these whales for some time as the pull their tails from the water and dive into 50 metres of water. As we travel slowly along side the whales the other charter boat arrives in the area travelling across the path of the whales. They slow and appear at our stern rolling around and taking a dive again. The other vessel leaves and we continue slowly. At one point after about 10 minutes waiting for the whales to surface we take the motors out of gear, The whales then appear along side us and proceed to swim around us. Passengers run from side to side capturing the whales as they break the surface at times spy hopping, then disappearing for 5 minutes just to resurface along side us. More whales were further south but what's the point, they won't get any closer and other than a breach that you can capture (and show your friends) it dose not get any better. When the whales have had enough of us and then head east? We make our way to see some New Zealand Fur Seals, more pictures and now it is off home. We have told Sea Rescue that we will be back at 1230 hours so we cruise towards Whale-world We find a pod of Bottle nose dolphins but they are other wise occupied, so we continue on our way. Then we find a very young Humpback Whale playing in the Murray Rd aquaculture lease. We watch him for a while and then continue on our way. Calm conditions make for a good day.
 I do Love My Job!!
Master of the vessel Paul Guest.

Why Would You Do It?

Heavy rain and hail this morning. I head down the boat just in case we get anybody wandering down to inquire about cruising, after all it is the weekend and some people may think that we would cruise in any weather. Also gives me a chance to check out the finished awning. No sorry still dose not keep the rain off the door. One group of about 7 people came down, booked on the other vessel working in Albany. I do wonder why any operator would take passengers out to see whales on such a day. Strong winds, hail storms and some distance to travel to find the whales. I thought it was supposed to a pleasurable experience. Heading home I did pick up the West Australian news paper to find a picture I sent them of a breaching humpback they had asked for a couple of days ago.

"Think Whales Think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest

Humpback Cow & Calf

As we leave Princess Royal Harbour Bernie tells us that several blows have been seen at Limestone Head. We catch up with said whales as they head around bald head. As we get closer I notice that we have found 2 adult whales and a new born calf. Research tells us that their is a good chance the second whale could be a mid-wife to the cow. We followed these whales for some time. We then turned and headed east, finding several more pods of whales heading towards us. We follow them for a while and then see blows back towards King George Sound. We find a young whale and as we follow it, it breaches close to the boat. Only one passenger caught it though as he shot 10 frames a second in the direction of the screams from excited passengers. Just goes to show how lucky you can be, if ready at all times, with that camera while on a Whale Watching Cruises.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest

Whale Watching In Albany Western Australia

Breaching Humpback.

www.whales.com.au

No Cruises this weekend because of strong winds. With strong north westerly winds conditions in the western end of King George Sound are fine for whale watching, but the whales have been on the outer reaches of King George Sound, out around Breaksea and Michaelmas Islands and on a line between Breaksea Island and Bald Head. The humpback whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae) are on their annual migration north for mating and calving.
 
Master of the vessel Paul Guest