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.

What is Happening

Well folks what a season. Never before have I experienced such a crazy whale watching. Over the past couple of weeks the humpbacks have left us, but it seams that the southern rights are missing in action. We have had several days off due to weather.

But the southern rights have not come in to lay in Middleton Bay. A cow and calf arrived last Friday stayed for a couple of days and then went missing. Just to come back yesterday and stay for just 1 day. 4 adults were off Marine Drive Sunday morning, 3 stayed Monday but were no were to be found Tuesday. The same time last year we had 20 whales between Marine Drive and Gull Rock.

Andrew Halsall flew to Ceduna and back last week and the count for whales was down on the coast and it should have been the biggest count ever according to records.

Just never work with animals and children.

Some Hard Days

Well been a bit slack keeping on top of the updates. Had a couple of hard days because of weather and quiet whales.
But yesterday we were heading out to the line when we spotted breaches. The whale was some distance away from us and heading towards Bald Head. We could see the breaches the whale was putting on a good show. As we got closer the whale went quiet. We were about 500 metres away when a whale watching RIB went past us at speed.
The vessel did not slow and I made comment that he had not seen the whale. I hoped that the whale was not in the path of the vessel and then the whale breached between the RIB and the coast. The RIB then slowed and came to a stop.
After that breach the whale dived and we could not find it for some time. We idle along the coast. We thought it would be travelling around Bald Head and continue in a westerly direction. Not to be.
The whale we spot blows behind us and some distance off the land.

We spot blows 800 metres SE so head in that direction as they are now tail slapping. The whales dive and when they surface they are heading west.
We follow for some time and then pick up 2 more whales in the lee of Bald Head.
We cruise in to check out the seals on our way home. As we re-enter King George Sound we find 2 more whale and follow for a little while as they head towards Seal Rock.

Later we have a party on board and we leave the marina at 3pm. As we idle out just north of the channel we are watching a grain ship head out the channel with the aid of the local tugs. We are listening to the two way and hear Nigel tell the pilot that a whale is just off the starboard bow. I look over to see a whale tail just the other side of the ship and think it may be cutting it just a little fine. Cant stop the ship so the whale would loose that fight. The whale pops up behind us and continues towards Middleton Beach. We follow as the whale goes in to Ellen Cove turns and swims toward Mistaken Island.
 
We leave them and head over to the ship that is now coming into port with the aid of the tugs and pilot. As the ship enters the channel we head back to Ellen Cove where we crank up the BBQ and Mount Barker Chickens enjoy there party.

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.

What A Differance a Day Makes.

A quiet day today. Beautifully calm and we could see dolphins all over King George Sound. 

We could see that the Southern Right Whales had left Middleton Beach but heard that at 0900 hours at least 1 Humpback had been seen close to Seal Rock. 

We stop off on the way to enjoy some dolphins swimming at the bow. We cruise past Seal Rock and don't see any whales and Peter Bell at Whale World tells us he has not seen any sign this morning. 

We head towards Bald head and Jason spots a blow some 2km away. We head it that direction and this whale is being hard to find. 

But with 16 years experience finding whales I have learnt a thing or two. Although some times I do get more than a little frustrated. Knowing a whale is close and being able to show passengers a whale are two different things. Well we find the whale and its the same whale that spent 90 minutes swimming around us yesterday. 

Not today though it takes several breaths and dives. We watch it for a while but he is not playing the game today. We head off to Breaksea Island cruise past the seals then on to Nanarup Beach, and back towards the harbour. 

And we now know the Southern Rights have left the area.

Its not every day we see the whales with their mouth open.

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.

Well folks the end is neigh. After having some great interaction with whales this season it seams that the end is close. Today we did not find any Southern Right Whales, but we did find 4 Humpbacks as they make their way home to Antarctica. Here are some of the pictures we caught this season.

How Many Whales.

Just a quick note to let you know we are seeing heaps of whales and I just have not had the time to put it all down on paper.

"Southern Rights off Middleton Beach"

We arrive at the boat and we have another great day. Bernie arrives to tell us that several whales have be spotted entering Frenchman Bay. We leave the marina and head towards Seal Rock. As we leave Princess Royal Harbour a call comes over the radio from a fisherman to inform us we are heading in the wrong direction as a Southern Right whale has been spotted off Griffith Street, Middleton Beach. I tell him that we have information on 4 humpback whales so we will come to the southern rights on our way home. We spot the whales off Goode Beach as we round the eastern end of Mistaken Island. The whales head towards Mistaken Island so we stop and wait for them to arrive. They don't care about us and head past us and in towards the mussel lease we turn and skirt the lease keeping an eye on 4 whales as they swim right through the middle of the lease. The whales then part and  rejoin each other again. Conditions are very calm so we turn off the motors and drop the hydrophone over the side to see if we can hear any whale songs. No luck today but can you beet a calm day, whales close, sunshine and a good coffee. Passengers are busy taking pictures and the whales playing mating games. We get a call from a mate on the beach and he informs me we have 2 more humpbacks heading towards us from Whale World. We spend about 1.5 hours with whales close and then with a breeze coming across the sound we head off to check out the southern rights. We find them not far from where they had been first reported. We watch them for a while and then head back to the dock.
"Master of the Vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest

"Hard Day"

After a great viewing yesterday we leave the marina confident of a good day. How wrong could I be. We head south east from the channel towards Seal Rock, Bernie comes over the radio and tells me he has not seen any whales so far this morning. OH NO. Ever the optimistic I am sure we will find something on "The Humpback Highway" We travel from Bald Head around the eastern end of Breaksea Island, we have about a 2 metre south west swell with an .3 metre north west sea a little uncomfortable if we were to be stationary but we keep moving so no problems. We head to the seal colony on the north eastern end of Breaksea and then make our way north towards Nanarup with still no sightings. We arrive off Nanarup Beach and now have to change channels so we can stay in touch just in case he spots a whale entering King George Sound behind us. We travel along Nanarup hoping now to find a Southern Right Whale close to shore. We travel along the coast making our way back towards the Sound and as we get close to herald reef I spot a blow off in the distance. We make our way over and find 2 young humpback whales cruising west. Allah-lulu-a!! We have covered some miles today. We stay with these whales for some time and then head home. We will be about 45 minutes late, but hey we did find them in the end. As we get to the entrance of Princess Royal Harbour we see that the other whale watching vessel has just found the whales.
"Master of the vessel Silver Star II"
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"

Southern Right Whales

21st June would have to be the earliest I can remember that a southern right whale has mad an appearance in King George Sound. Today my phone started ringing at around 7am with a local fisherman on the line, telling me that they had been stopped in Emu Point channel, by a very quiet and large southern right whale. We investigated but could not find it, so headed south, app-on hearing reports of an unidentified whale being being seen off flat rock. A  small humpback joined us for some time. Children on board could not believe how big it was bit were even more amazed when I told them that it was just a juvenile and that humpbacks get to be twice that size and weigh up to 45 tonne. Bernie our spotter called us on the radio to inform us that the southern right had been spotted just off Marine Drive. We did find her on our return journey back to the marina. We stayed with her for about 20 minutes  and in that time she just surfaced a couple of times. We say "her " as it is my belief that the southern right whale is most likely a cow looking for a quiet bay to give berth to her bouncing baby.
 
Master of the vessel Paul Guest