Heaps of Humpbacks

Sorry Folks
I have been a bit slack at keeping the blog page up to date.
We have found whales every cruise which is expected at this time of year.

Today with strong NW winds we travelled out through the centre of King George Sound and found a lone whale heading north toward a ship that is at anchor, but we did not stop for a look as we could see blows a little further out to sea.

We continue and find a humpback cow and a very young calf.  We are told that if the dorsal fin is still bent over then the baby is less than 10 days old.

We stay with these whales enjoying morning tea. While we are watching mum and baby I see blows over towards Herald Reef and the blows are low so I think there may be some Southern Rights heading towards Nanarup Beach.

As we head in that direction we come across the lone whale we saw earlier, we follow for a little while then continue on, to confirm if these whales a couple of km away are in fact are Southern Rights.

As we get closer it becomes apparent that we have found 6 humpbacks charging around, not quite sure which way they are supposed to be going. We stay with these guys as the gods are shining on us today. I was worried about the strong winds forecast and we have found whales in sheltered waters.
We are about 45 minutes from home so we head in that direction at about 1130 hours. We head over to the coast and I get some help from all the children  and "Harry Hamster" on board to bring us home before the storm reaches Albany.

Humpback Cow, Calf & Midwife.

Strong winds were forecast but it looks like that will be latter today.

We head out and everyone has joined me on the fly-bridge, Bernie comes over the two-way to tell me that he has seen a very quiet whale half way between a ship at anchor and Seal Rock. We will keep a lookout as we go past but we know that we have several pods cruising on the "Humpback Highway"

We are off Limestone Head when we see our first blows. We have some heading towards Bald Head from out deep, and 2 pods further east. We pick one of the eastern pods and head that way. Then I see another blow off our starboard side. Ok we will go have a look.

We find 2 adult humpbacks, we have now stopped and are waiting for them to swim past us so we can follow. They are now off our port side and we are slowly travelling towards Bald Head. Now the whales stop and cut past our stern. I see that they have some dolphins with them. This can be good as at times they will chase the dolphins and dolphins will come to the boat.

Now they are heading into King George Sound, but that is not a dolphin, I see a very small Humpback calf. The first calf I have seen this year. When I first started whale -watching we did not see Humpbacks calves. Last year we saw about 15 for the season.

I have asked those that may know why this is. And the answer I get is that we have never had so many Humpback whales since we started keeping records and numbers are increasing by about 8% per year. With increasing populations we get a increase in chances of cows falling pregnant early in the season or the chance premature berths. What ever the reason its great to see.

We follow the cow, calf and midwife. (an adult female that will accompany an pregnant cow) until they get close to the headland where they stop for a rest it seems. They stay in the same place for about 10 minutes and then forge on again.  We follow until they pass the seal cove at Bald Head and we leave them on their migration north.

We go in and check on the New Zealand Fur Seals then head back into King George Sound, I did see several blows heading in to the sound when we were travelling with the cow and calf, so we will stay alert.

We have not travelled too far before I see a disturbance and as we approach we find a juvenile humpback surrounded by about 30 Common Dolphins. We knock the engines out of gear as the dolphins head over to us and the young whale follows. It gets to about 20 metres away and then turns and swims away.  Some of the dolphins stay with us and when the whale is far enough away we engage the engines and idle away. As we increase the revs dolphins come to the bow and start to ride the bow wave.

Now we head towards Whale-world and along Goode Beach and back into the marina in time for lunch. Staying on the fly-bridge I am constantly keeping a lookout and today I see several blows half way across the Sound. We don't go to investigate this time.

8 Whales Today

We head out of Princess Royal Harbour it's clear but showers have been forecast. Bernie's radio call tells us that several whales are travelling between the safe water marker and the end channel marker. We find 2 humpbacks but as we get close we spot huge splashes further east. The question is "should we stay or should we go" Well we go and as we get closer the breaching stops. However when we get closer we are greeted by 2 adults and one calf. We watch these whales for nearly 1 hour. As the rain showers cover the Sound we head back towards the marina. The whales we first saw were last seen just off Emu Beach so we hope that we will find them on the way home. As  I talk to the local dive boat, as they are coming through the passage at Mistaken Island, I spot 1 whale heading past the safe water marker we stick with it for a little, but it is travelling fast so we let it go. Now heading home, a call from the dive vessel we have asked to look out for whales comes in.  There is a whale heading in to Princess Royal Harbour. We find a juvenile cruising towards the wood chip berth as the rain shower clears. We follow it until we get very close to the marina and then head back to our berth. Neither of these whales are the ones we spotted at the start of our cruise. Where could they be? 

So its 8 whales for the day. 

"A Curious Humpback Calf"

Today we have a beautiful day, no wind and blue sky. Leaving the marina I do enjoy "days like these"
Bernie calls as we head past the wharf to tell us that 2 humpbacks have been seen travelling in to King George Sound and have just cruised along Middleton beach and are now heading out past Ledge Beach. We step up the revs  hoping that these whales wont be to far from where they were last seen. We catch up with these 2 adult humpback whales as they head towards Limestone Head. We tag along enjoying morning tea trying to get a tail shot but these whales are a little lazy. The water is so clear though we can see them as they swimming just under the surface of the water. As we get closer to Limestone Head a blow is seen about 1km to our stern. I decide, because we are close, we will go and visit the new Zealand Fur Seals that hall up on the rocks in Bald Head Cove. As I go to move away from the whales they seam to follow us at times even swimming under us. After some time they leave us and we head out to the seal colony. As we head back along the coast towards King George Sound the whales we have been watching are heading towards us. We stop and the whales swim up to us and continue with out missing a breath.
We head into wards Seal Rock and stop off to chat to a local squid fisherman to check his days catch. Leaving Graham we spot the whale we saw off to our stern 30 minutes ago, as we make our way in that direction we even spot one of the Fairy Penguins from the Mistaken Island colony conditions are so calm. When we arrive it is not long before we see the blows of a new born Humpback calf. It is very small but very curious and even brings mom over to have a close look at us. We stay with mother and baby for a little while and then head home via the passage between Mistaken Island and the mainland slowing down to check out a seal as it lays on the surface apparently asleep till we wake him.

"Master of the vessel Silver Star Paul Guest"

"10th Humpback Calf in Albany"

Well folks, we left from the marina today having had reports from a local fisherman, of a very large Southern Right whale at the port channel marker at 7am this morning. And Bernie our spotter told us that humpbacks were between the islands, blows were also seen off Goode Beach and Herald Reef, so we were confident that it would not take long for us to find some whales to watch. Today was one of those days when we get reminded that we are dealing with wild animals. We headed towards Herald Reef because of the forecast north westerly winds. Not finding the whales we were sure that they had headed towards Nanarup beach so continued on. No whales there either. So we now turn and head towards the eastern end of Michaelmas Island. Stopping off at the colony of New Zealand Fur Seals at Breaksea Island. Then towards Limestone Head. Bernie tells us that blows have been seen out deep. Do we really want to go out their. The winds are strengthening now but may be we can go and have a look before they get too strong. We head south east and have trouble finding any blows. After some time a passenger spots a small blow about 400 meters away. As we get close we find 2 humpbacks travelling slowly just under the sea surface. Then we see why. A little calf pops up for a breath. We stay with these whales, they are just slowly swimming to the west. This tells us that we have a cow calf and a midwife. We are told that a pregnant cow will at times be accompanied by another cow for a few weeks at the time of birth. If it had have been a bull the cow and calf would have been moving in an erratic way to try and get away from it. I have seen a cow and a new born calf that was just several days old, swim away from approaching whales so fast I did not see which way it went.
 We left these whales as they continued on their way and headed towards home, we find 1 more humpback whale as it cuts across our bow. And 1 more humpback whale as we travel along the coast towards Limestone Head.
We travel in to Goode Beach hoping to find the whale that was seen earlier in the channel entrance. But alas no.
So we continue back to arrive at the marina just 35 minutes late.
"Think Whales Think Albany"
"The master of the vessel Silver Star II Paul Guest"

Mother & Calf flee 2 Raging Bulls

With showers coming across the Sound we head out with word that several whales have been seen in the area around the safe water marker. We count 3 individual blows as we approach the area. The whales are charging all around with no direction at all. As we approach a wood chip vessel is making its way in to King George Sound on our starboard side and the whales are now charging towards us. The ship turns to starboard and now the whales travel across the path of the ship with in 100 metres of the bow. We turn and travel off the stern of the ship to pick up the whales again. One passenger says she thinks she has spotted a calf. After traveling with the whales for some time we notice that their seams to be one whale being pursued by the other 2 whales. Then there it is, a very small calf is spotted along side the whale that is being pursued. We follow these whales for some time and at times we have whales cruising around us. The cow and calf on one side of the boat and the 2 bulls lunging from the water. We stayed with these whales trying hard to get photos but sorry folks with showers coming over at times and whales charging all over I had my work cut out just to stay with the whales so that my passengers had some chance to get those elusive pictures. We spent over 1 hour with these whales and left them as they started to head out to sea from Limestone Head. We traveled the coast back to the marina enjoying some of our beautiful coast line and a hot cup of coffee.
So now we have seen 3 calve so far this season.
"Think Whales Think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest