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.

"Cow, Calf and Midwife

Bernie tells us that their is a quiet whale between Gull Rock and the end channel markers. We head out and it was not long before we spotted a very soft blow. We head over in that direction and as we get closer we soon notice a little calf sticking close to mum. We then see a second adult whale take a breath close bye. And mother and baby are cruising along calmly. This tells us that we have a cow calf and midwife. A cow traveling along with a cow and calf to aid the new mother. We do at times see a cow and calf being harassed by a couple of whales. On occasions like this we assume that the harassing whales are bulls, I do not know if the bull just wants to mate with the cow or has intentions to harm the calf, as a male polar bear would do to a cub, if he found it. We stay with these whales for some time at times the calf even swam within meters of the boat. Some of our passengers got some very close up shots but not me folks these are the best I got.

"And One Makes Four"

The first whale we find today is a small adolescent humpback by its self, traveling west on the southern side of Michaelmas Island. It is very quiet so we head east to see what else we can find. We find a adult humpback cruising slowly and we tag along, after about 5 minutes we notice a little tiny calf with mum. We follow for some time hoping to get some good pictures. They head around the eastern end of Breaksea Island and then towards Bald Head. I see several blows and we leave the cow and calf, but the whales I see are traveling quite fast and by the time we catch up with them they are close to Bald Head. We follow trying to work out how many whales we are with. We have several pods in the area and all up we get to about 20 humpback whales for the day.

"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