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.

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"

Flat Batteries

A couple of days of strong winds over, so we head out Thursday morning with word that a whale has been sighted at the entrance to Princess Royal Harbour. We find a small whale as it cruises along Outer Brambles. We follow for while and then head off to see what we can find.

We cruise between Mistaken Island and along Goode Beach, past Whale world and then we see a breach out east of us. The whales breach several times but by the time we get there they have had enough of that game. We follow the whales as they head towards Bald Head and then loose them for a bit. I knock the boat out of gear and sit for a while, every one is on look out and then they surface about 80 metres away from us. 

They are heading towards us so Jason turns the motors off. The whales are up wind so no rules have be broken and now the whales are at the stern of the boat. With motors off, the whales are quite happy to swim around the boat and we are getting some good photos. The other whale watching vessel arrives to see whales spy hopping along side our boat. Our passengers are getting a good wiff of whale breath as the whales continue to swim around us. 

The thought of putting the go-pro over the side comes to mind but of course the batteries are flat. Oh well I'll have to just put this one in the memory bank. We have had the whales along side us for about 45 minutes and now they have had enough, even though several Common Dolphins have now joined them.

We head back to shore. Every one scanning the photos they have just taken to see how they went. Hope we get a few people sending some through to our Trip Adviser link.

Covered with Smelly Whale Breath

A perfect day for whale watching. Having seen a couple of whales while sitting on Marine Drive at 8.15am but they were very quiet. Heading out we get a call from one of the local tug skippers saying that the whales were last seen just out side of the channel. 

We head out and find 10 or 12 dolphins at the end of the channel markers. The whales are then spotted back towards Middleton Beach. We head in and find 2 Southern Right whales. I have been operation whale watching now for 16 years, (longer than any body else in WA) and never seen a southern right this early in the season off Middleton Beach. We watch for some time even enjoying some coffee and muffins for morning tea. 

We leave and find a young humpback about half way across King George Sound. We pull up and its not long before the whale is swimming around the boat. It surfaces each side of the boat swims away and then returns chasing several dolphins. One of our passengers while on the aft deck taking photos get covered with smelly whale breath. 

Cameras were going off and screams of excitement for about 90 minutes were the order of the day. Getting back to the marina 45 minutes latter than normal.

A Special Experience.

Bernie visits us at the boat to tell of several pods of whales in King George Sound.
We head out and although Bernie said there were whales over near Seal Rock but they are not that obvious when we cruise past on the way to some blows we have seen towards the middle of King George Sound.

We find 2 whales and follow for some time. 1 small whale lifts its tail and dives and then 2 more over towards Michaelmas Island about 1 km away and another 2 heading south east. We can see breaches out deeper so with the whales around us being pretty quite we head out to see if we can catch some action. No luck today.

We find another lone juvenile whale along side Limestone Head and 2 adults heading south out near Bald Head, but they are travelling and just taking a couple of breaths and then diving.

We go visit the New Zealand Fur Seal colony at Bald Head cove and as we leave the cove the juvenile cruises past us.

We cruise in along the coast stop out side Whale-world and then head towards Seal Rock. It is flat calm and as we head towards Seal Rock I spot a two whales break the surface over towards a couple of squid fishermen.

We head over and follow the whales as they head to Flat Rock just off Whale-world. The whales are very quiet and we knock the boat out of gear. The whales dive and we see their foot prints heading away from us. Then the whales surface and are now heading back towards us. They come in and swim past the stern of the boat as if heading back towards Seal Rock. They then turn and swim around us. Then head off again. Now they are back under the boat. Now they are swimming around us, surfacing at the bow and then at the stern. They swim around us for some time to the delight of our passengers. When they have had enough, they slowly swim away and we headed home.

One of my passengers, commented that they thought I would be over this, after 14 years of watching whales. 

I must say, I still to this day love when whales interact with the boat. I just wish I had more time to capture on video or with my camera.

PS a thought. Are these whales the same ones that swam around us yesterday?

Whales Swim Around Us.

Wednesday morning strong winds are forecast but we leave the marina and the winds are light.

As we head out Chad Bunny, a local fisherman calls me to tell of five whales, north of Michaelmas Island, so we head in that direction.
It takes about 30 minutes to get to the islands and to start with, we can't find any blows.

We continue along the northern side of Michaelmas Island and a passenger sitting along side me on the flying-bridge spots the blows at the same time I do. We get to these whales but we can only find 2 whales not the five reported. We follow but the whales are moving with no direction.
We do see the whales lift 1/3 of their body from the water and slap their tails on the sea surface several times, but at times they are behind us, off to our port side or ahead of us several hundred metres.

The whales head out towards the eastern end of Breaksea Island and I explain to my passengers that we don't want to follow them as the wind is strengthening, making conditions very uncomfortable on the southern side of the island. We leave the whales and go visit a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals, finding a couple of Australian Sea-lions too.

We round the western end of Breaksea Island and head to Limestone Head. There has been a change in the weather and it is now raining and the wind strength I found out later, was peaking at around 44 km per hour. All the passengers have headed down stairs to take shelter and I have increased the revs so it takes us about 10 minutes to reach sheltered waters in the lee of Limestone Head.

We have seen whales breaching out deep but as I said I don't wish to put my passenger in those conditions but I don't think they have had a true whale experience yet, so hope we can find a whale in these calmer waters.

Yes we are in luck. As we head into King George Sound I look off to starboard and spot two very soft blows. We head over to find 2 small humpbacks and several dolphins and once again everyone is out side to get a good view.
The whales are not moving far I take the motors out of gear and within minutes the dolphins head towards us. I have lost sight of the whales until one surfaces right along side us, then his mate. For the next 20 minutes these whales circle the boat, at times spy-hopping, sliding back into the water and then swimming to the other side of the boat. I only have a telephoto lens on my camera and the whales are just too close, especially when one of the whales comes to the surface along side us and then rolls over on its back and lays there for several minutes.

I do love my job. 

Under Water Footage

We arrive at the boat knowing that the weather is closing in.

I can not raise Bernie on UHF this morning, so then called Whale-world and got hold of Peter Bell. He tells me that he saw blows out towards Michaelmas Island at about 0830 hours.

We head out around the mussel leases off Mistaken Island and head in towards Whale-world and there 600 metres ahead I spot 2 Humpbacks. They are rolling around on the surface and I see they are surrounded by Bottle-nose dolphins. We get close take the engines out of gear and its not long before the dolphins are all around us. They are followed by the whales.

The other charter boat arrives some time latter and now its started to rain. So glad we have a large cabin, large under cover aft deck and a covered fly-bridge. The winds are strengthening and the whales are not going any where so I decide to stay with these whales. The other boat leaves.

We enjoy a hot coffee with whales swimming around us. Several times the whales swim in close, at times off the bow, round the stern and underneath us. They do this several times. After about the third time I think about trying to record this on my Go-pro. I attach it to a boat hook and place it over the side of the boat. I have now checked this and although its not the best footage I have ever seen I can see with a little more work we may be able to get some great images.

When the whales have had enough we continue towards Whale-world to find 2 more whales about 1km away. This pair are cruising towards Marine Drive so we let them go and head in towards the fishing boat anchored off Goode Beach.

As we cruise along the weed line, just off the beach on our way home, we come across Brian Sell, a local fisherman catching squid. Some of our passengers would like to know where they can purchase a feed, we will give them a map back in the office.

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.

Sick Whale?

Weather conditions have improved greatly. We head out after Bernie has informed me that a quiet whale is at the last starboard marker. As we head out of the channel we see the first blows. It only takes a few minutes to arrive in the are the blows were seen. The whale appears and I think I have seen the whale several times over the last week, each time it has been very quiet and hard to find, we stay with it for quiet some time. As Bernie said the whale was quiet but "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" The conditions are calm and at times the whale pops up close to the boat and gets a look at passengers on-board our boat. After about 1 hour the whale has moved about 1000 metres and is slowly heading out towards the islands. We leave the this quiet whale and head over towards Frenchman's Bay. As we leave the whale I start to question if this whale is the one we have seen recently why is it still in the area, is it sick or just taking its time to make the migration north. We will keep a look out over the next week to see if it is still in the area. We may contact CALM if we see it again.

4 Humpbacks & Beautifull Conditions.

What a beautiful day. Very little wind flat calm sea conditions and blue skies. We head out and to day is a day you just love to be on the water even if you don't see a whale. We get to Limestone Head and i have not spotted any blows yet so we turn and head towards Breaksea Island. It is not long before I spot several blows and when I am happy that what I am seeing is not caused by waves breaking on the shore of Michaelmas Island I tell those who are sitting with me on the fly bridge that we have some whales ahead. I point out what I have spotted and with in a short time every body has picked up the whales as they head in to King George Sound. I increase the revs and it is not long before we with in 500 metres of the whales and we have once again reduced revs to just above idle. How many whales have we found? It can be hard some times as they don't all take a breath at the same time. We follow these whales for longer than 1 hour, at times one of the whales lurches from the water and I think we are about to see some breaching but that dose not eventuate. The larger of the whales is making loud snorting sounds at times, is this aggressive or is it just clearing hits throat. We leave these whales as they get close to Bald Head. We head towards Frenchman Bay where we find some dolphins just to top of the day. We had some guests booked on the tour today and they did not turn up. I know that tomorrow the weather will not be so good I will be disappointed if they didn't make it because they slept in.

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.

"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.

"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.

"Whales Everywhere"

It is a glorious day, no wind, no clouds and a high of 20C forecast. I do love my job! Bernie comes to the boat and tells me that he thinks that there is a humpback cow and calf past the channel markers over towards Gull Rock. But there is also a large pod of humpbacks between Limestone Head and Seal Rock. We head out of the channel and Bernie from his lookout spot tells me that the whales now are east of the safe water marker. Naomi Bail from Whale world rings me to say she can see whale from work and they seam to be between Mistaken Island and Seal Rock. It took longer than I expected but we catch up with the pod as they charge towards Bald Head. I count a dozen whales as they break the surface to take a breath. We follow them around Bald Head and they start to play. Whales are lurching from the water and landing on whales that have just taken a breath. Several pods of whales come in to join the main pod and then leave again. Then we see the pod change direction and charge over towards a lone whale some 200 metres away. A lot of bumping is going on now and whales are throwing them self from the water tail first at times. We have great photo opportunities, thanks to digital cameras, even some breaches. We head home and as we round Bald head on the way home another whale is just ahead of us. I think we get to about 25 whales for the day.
We drop in to see the New Zealand Fur Seals for some more pictures. As we head home many people are checking to see if they are happy with their pictures.
"Think Whales think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest.

"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.

Smelly humpback whale breath

Bernie Hill our spotter came down to our offices before we headed out. 2 humpbacks at the safe water marker in King George Sound, 2 humpbacks between the safe water marker and Seal Rock and more blows seen further out side on the line from Bald Head to Breaksea Island.  So off we go :)
 With in 20 minutes we have found our first whales. 2 adult humpbacks going in no particular direction. As we drift down wind they join us to the delight of all those aboard. Andrew Halsall a friends, (structured work place learning student) Angie, found the difficulty in trying to photograph whales with a sigma 150 to 500 mm when the whales are swimming under the boat. Be warned you can take a lot of whale pictures, to get that good one. But it is so much easier now with digital than in the old days of film. I remember taking 2 rolls of 36 exposure and not getting 1 photo I thought was any good. We left these whales as they headed towards Marine Drive.
Finding 2 more adults at Seal Rock we once again enjoyed close interactions as the whales came close enough to us, so that when they exhaled, they covered passengers with their smelly breath.
Be warned children thats what happens if you dont clean your teath.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest:)