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.

Whales and Dolphins

After a stormy day yesterday and not being able to find any whales to watch, although several had been seen from the shore out on the line between Breaksea Island and Bald Head. We were not expecting too much with strong winds forecast for the next few days. How ever I woke to calm conditions, with several groups contacting us to confirm we will be cruising I park up on Marine Drive, to scan King George Sound. At about 0820 I see 2 humpback whales just north of the Mistaken Island mussel lease. I think that the whales will have left the sound by the time we are leaving the marina, but conditions are good so I am pretty confident we will find whales today. As we leave Princess Royal Harbour I chat to Bernie who is now sitting up on Marine Drive and he tells me whales are close to the ship that is at anchor in the Sound. We get there in 10 minutes and find 2 humpbacks. They are pretty quiet so we get Andrew the deckie to crank up the earn and serve morning tea. I am sure the whales know we are in the area but they are in love so don't care about us as long as we do not harass them. After about 45 minutes watching the whales we spot a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins several hundred metres away. I know if they find the whales we could be in for some good photos. We spend about 2 hours with the whales in total, as the dolphins join the whales the whales become more active and at times as they chase the dolphins we are unsure where the whales will surface next. At times swimming very close past the stern of the boat. When its time to leave we have not travelled more than 2 km from where we first caught up with these whales.

2015 Season Start

Well its that time again.

Although starting a week later this year because of delays caused by the local tammi-lift and a weekend of diving some great sites in King George Sound. We are now looking forward to spend some great time on the water. May be even getting some photos of the amazing Humpbacks as the cruise through the sound on their way north.
We did see several breaching whales while waiting for divers to surface last weekend.

We have heard the whales have been sighted every day buy the crew of a dredge team working in Albany at this time. We at Albany Ocean Adventures believe that if the whales are out we will find them. So if you are in town and wish to fine the whales we are your best option.

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.

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.

Huge Humpback

At 0820 hours as Jason and I stand on Marine Drive we spot several blows half way across King George Sound. 

We leave the Marina at 0930, whales have tails and we don't have fences so we put in a call to Bernie to see where the whales have gone. Bernie replies that at 0920 one of the whales was breaching south east of the mussel lease south of Mistaken Island. I explain the tell tail signs we are looking for to our passengers as we round the lease and head towards Seal Rock, keeping a look out towards Goode Beach. 

We cruise slowly past the dive wreck HMAS Perth and several hundred metres off to our starboard side the biggest humpback whale I have seen for a long time slowly surfaces. Its takes 2 breaths and dives again. We cruise over to get a closer look and from some distance we can see the whale glide through the water just under the surface as there is a lot of white on the side of the whale. Its calm and the foot prints are the size of a room in your house. The whales surfaces and its blow goes higher than the roof of the top deck of the boat. 
We cruise along and enjoy morning tea with the whale cruising along side us, taking several blows and then diving giving good tail shots, with sun glistening of the water as it runs off the whales tail. I am sure this whale is a cow and I would not be surprised if she was looking for a quiet place to give birth. 

We leave her as she cruises towards Michaelmas Island. We continue towards Bald Head but its not long before we find a very small quiet humpback, it takes two breaths and dives, we don't waste time as we have heard that there are more pods of whales "on the line". 
We cant see any good blows and the swell is still uncomfortable out here so we put the hammer down and head for the Islands. As we are getting close we spot the back of 2 whales as they break the surface followed by 2 blows east of Michaelmas. They are heading towards us and although we now are going quite slow the whales pop up behind us. We try and put the boat in a position for some good photos. They are heading to the western end of Breaksea and once they get past the end, we peel off to check in on the seals. 

Ok its time to head home, all we need now is some dolphins.

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.

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.

Whale Watching Luncheon

 Today we had the pleasure of Community Care for a whale watching luncheon. Leaving the jetty a little later than normally we headed out to Limestone Head. Found 3 whales and followed them until they headed around Bald Head. We headed towards Breaksea Island to check out some New Zealand Fur seals. Then headed towards Nanarup to enjoy lunch. As I scanned the horizon a huge splash could mean only one thing. I put it to our passengers that if we went to investigate, our lunch may be a little later than first planed. The vote came back in the affirmative to investigate and this is what greeted us.

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.

Weather Gods

Well it seams that the weather gods don't want us to look for whales this weekend. We had planed on doing our first whale watching cruise this weekend, but with strong SE winds the weather is not good enough. To tell the truth even if it was the height of the season and we could see large numbers of whales I am sure we would not be cruising. I want my passengers to enjoy their cruise. I would rather you went home and said "the weather was not good enough" than 'it was way to rough and the skipper is a crazy man"

"Working Hard"

As we get closer to the end of the humpback migration sightings are getting a little harder. We left the marina today with word from Bernie that their are whales out on the line. We waste time and head straight out in that direction. As we make our way towards Bald Head we see that their is good swell hitting Breaksea Island. This could make things interesting. We get close to the line and Bernie tells us he can now see the whales that have come around the back of Breaksea Island. And just at that moment I see blows from the fly-bridge steering station. They are south east of us about 2 km away. Then we spot more blows south of us. but a little closer, so that's the pod we will approach first. We find 2 whales cruising to the west but they are a little hard to watch as we are now in the southern ocean and we have a 3 metre swell to contend with. We watch these whales for a little while as the head even further south west. Bernie tells us that the whales to our east are heading in towards King George Sound, we turn and find their blows quickly so head in that direction, hoping that they continue on that bearing. As we get closer all those on the fly-bridge see the whales blow several times but then disappear. We travel in the direction they were heading for some time. I do hate when whales do this. Bernie tells us that he was watching 2 whales between the islands and they have vanished also. But to get a bit of respite from the swell  I think we will head that way and see if they surface again in calmer waters. We don't find them but we do get to see several Australian and New Zealand seals that are hauled up on Breaksea Island. We round the eastern end of Michaelmas Island and then over to Frenchman Bay hoping that the whales have cruised in shore as a couple did the other day. No luck. All in all a pretty hard day.
"Master of the Vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest.

"Whales for 1 Hour"

We leave the marina after Bernie has told us of several pods of humpbacks making their way along "The Humpback Highway" We get to the area about 35 minutes after leaving the marina and find several pods of whales heading west as they do. We spend some time with them and then because of the sea and swell we head back into King George Sound.  Bernie had told us that a couple of whales had traveled between the islands and were heading towards Seal Rock. But he had to head off him self to do a couple of jobs before we were able to re-enter the Sound and pick up their blows. We could not see them so I decided to head towards Frenchman Bay and Whale World, hoping that the whales would be found off Goode Beach. We caught up with a local fisherman and checked out his mornings catch of squid. Then we head off towards Goode Beach then we see blows close to the mussel lease at Mistaken Island. The whales are very quiet and as we get closer they head towards us. I reduce reeves, take the motors out of gear and then turn off the motors. The whales are swimming around us in no time. For about 1 hour they come and go at times swimming under the boat and then getting up to 200 metres away and then turning to return to the boat. Much to the delight of all on-board. Yes folks even the crew. Several passengers can not believe our luck, commenting that they never imagined they would get so close to the whales. We will be late home but no one cares. Eventually the whales head off and we start the motors and head home our self, traveling over the passage between Mistaken Island and the mainland. A good day.
"Master of the vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest.

"Friends Help Out"

We are greeted this morning with a heavy fog and Bernie comes to tell me he can't help much as he cannot see past the channel markers. We know that whales will be seen out on the "Humpback Highway"
We call up sea rescue and log in, passenger numbers, estimated time of return and area of operation. After we have logged in we get calls from a mate who is out with his children over at Limestone Head and he tells me that 2 whales have just passed his boat, much to the delight of his daughter. Then we get another call from Jayden the young lad who did some work experience on "Silver Star II" last week, he tells me that several pods of whales are travelling along the highway. We find our first whales heading west just off Bald Head, as we watch them I see 2 more whales coming around Bald Head. The pods do not join each other. More whales further south and west, then we see a breach so we head in that direction. We find 3 whales, I tell our passengers that I believe that we are seeing 2 bulls chasing 1 cow, it explains some of the behaviour we are seeing. One whale at times breaks the surface and swims with its head on the back of another whale. They are also changing direction and at times turning back on them self. And then head south we follow for a while until I see another pair of whales further east that are heading into King George Sound. As we are engulfed with in a rain shower we head for home via Frenchman Bay, Goode Beach and the passage at Mistaken Island.
Thanks for the help we get from friends & other boaties, while looking for whales.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest