7 Whales Today.

We leave Princess Royal Harbour And Bernie tells me whales are hard to find.
Oh no please not today. We have a good crowed and after yesterday I have high expectations.

Jason has made us morning tea and is now on the fly-bridge and is on the look out for blows out on the line. Bernie is saying all is quiet from where he is. And the swell out side the sound is still a good 3 metres.

Now we are out on the line and heading towards Breaksea Island. We still have not seen a blow and I call Bernie. Still no sightings. A few minutes later Bernie calls back and says he has just seen a breach 1 km SW of us. I look in the general direction but cant see any thing and I just don't want to be out in the southern ocean if I can't be sure of a good viewing today.
We continue towards Breaksea and I am sure some of those on board now enjoy the calm conditions. We are just about to nose up to some seals and Jason tells me we have 2 whales heading for the north eastern end of Breaksea fast. So I guess we will have to come back to the seals later on.

We put the hammer down and head east, slowing down when we leave the protection of Breaksea, but I don't see these whales, but I do see a breach south of us. I head in that direction after I see a second breach.
The whales were may be 500 to 800 metres away when we first saw them and we are punching into a 3 metre southerly swell so we are taking it easy. The whales are heading west and we tag along. But now we have more whales in the area. Now we have another breach. Ok which whales do we follow, hang on how many whales are here 3 or 4.
There's 2 more just over there. Oh where are these whales oh just here, surfacing metres from the boat. Is that 2 more whales several hundred metres away.
Breach, 1 km South, and again. There are more whales further away but we stay in this area, I think its more important to watch whales than to count them. Some times all you need is 1 whale that comes close or puts on a show to make the day.

Some times its amazing how the whales become active at the same time. We follow our 3 whales, although at times they are changing directions and  we are not sure where they are going to come up.
Every one is ok even though the conditions are not the best we stick with the whales for some time, I don't want to push the limits and have people get sea sick and I don't want to leave too soon, not allowing people to enjoy the experience.
When I think its ok we head for home it will take us 40 minutes to get back to the marina from here arriving at about 1230. 

Breaching Whales Suprise.

Once again strong winds are forecast but we don't seem to be getting to much as we leave the marina.

We have seen several blows over towards Limestone Head while sitting on Marine Drive earlier. As we get close to the line, we see a blow about 1 km away and heading around Bald Head.
As we head in that direction I see a breach off the port bow. I think that's the one, we will follow today.

We get closer and find 3 whales heading west. We follow around Bald Head and with the wind increasing a little, its better conditions in the le of the headland, as we travel along Flinders Peninsular.

Unexpectedly we have a whale breach, catching all the passengers off guard. No one gets a photo. All is quiet for about 20 minutes as we cruise along with the whales and then we get another breach. And the whales seam to have speed up. Then passengers count 4 whales as they surface for a breath. We follow for a while longer hoping that we will witness more breaching.

We are some distance from Bald Head now and have been with the whales for nearly 1 hour so we turn and head for the Bald Head Cove, where a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals reside. Our Kiwi passengers note that the seals are quite small compared to the seals in their home town who are a traffic hazard when they lay on the roads to keep warm on a winters day.

Very Shy Whale

Much harder to find a whale today. 

We head out and Bernie tells us that blows are seen over towards Limestone Head. We find 20 or so dolphins on the way with several babies in the pod. We get close to Limestone head and the whale blows and Bernie calls seconds later making sure we have seen the blow.

The whale dives and hen surfaces several minutes later. Takes a couple more breaths then gone again. The whale does this a couple of times then the other whale watching vessel arrives and we cant find the whale again.

We leave head to Breaksea Island find some seals then on to Nanarup. The conditions are much better at Nanarup although no whales are spotted. We cruise the coast to arrive back at the marina just after 12 noon. 

I invite all the passengers back free of charge to try again and several passengers are surprised to receive such an offer. I hope all can take up the offer as we want our passengers to have an experience they will remember for the rest of their life.

Several Small Whales

Could it get any better. 
Welcome to Albany in winter. Light winds, blue skies and a glassy sea. 

We head out with word that whales were seen at Bald Head at 0800 hours so we head in that direction hoping that the whales have enter King George Sound. 
As we head out though Jason thinks he has seen a blow over towards Gull Rock. We find some dolphins on the way and then as we don't see the blow a second time so put out a call to vessels in the area. A reply comes back that no whales have been seen in the area so we change direction and then we spot a blow between us and Breaksea Island. 

Its like glass and we can see the whale as it cruises through the water heading towards Breaksea. We follow but the whale is quiet as I decide to leave and look further out I see a breach about 1km away. We find a very small Humpback its about 8 metres long. He has quietened down now so we leave and head towards Bald Head. Its even calmer out here than it was yesterday. 

We see several blows deep and now the first whale we spotted is breaching. But we are 500 metres away. We continue on our way, as we get closer to Bald Head we have more whales breaching, but they only do it once then stop. 

We find the seals chat to a fisherman catching some Breaksea Cod and then head for home. As we make our way back into King George Sound we spot two more whales and we idle along side until we are close to Seal Rock and the whales now turn and head east. 

 All the whales have been quit small non much over 10 metres. We cruise into Goode Beach through the passage at mistaken Island and on home once again getting back to the marina just before 1pm. 
Another relaxing day on the water.

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.

Whale whatching season start date.

2014 Whale Watching Season first cruise Saturday 31st.
Departing the marina @0930 hours.
Eve Young is off to bigger and brighter things, will miss her, and wish Eve and Chris all the best for the future. May be we will see you back in Albany some time in the future.
To take Eve's place Jason Pomery will join us. Of course Jason's dad used to own Silver Star II and Jason was skipper for several years and knew the boat inside out. Boats changed a little but sure Jason will soon get back in the swing of whale watching in Albany.

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.

I Love My Job !!!!

 What can I say. The weather is amazing the whales are friendly and I get to show people.

 I LOVE MY JOB

A calf playing today.

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.

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.

Breaching Whales

Bernie comes down to the boat just before we depart the marina to tell me that there are 2 whales close to a boat that is currently at "Gia Batter Reef" But he tells me that they are very quiet. We head out over a beautifully calm King George Sound to find the boat but can not find the whales. Bernie radios me and tells me that it looks like a couple of quiet whales are out close to Breaksea Island, we continue slowly out towards the seal colony on Breaksea Island, still not finding any whales. We head towards Limestone Head and as we get close and no doubt with the passengers now thinking we will not see any whales, I spot 2 very quiet whales heading towards us close to the coast. The call of "there she blows"  brings everybody to the bow or upstairs to see what I have found. I knock the boat out of gear so we can see which way the whales are travelling. The whales appear off to our port side so we turn to follow them. In my mind I am thinking that this is going to be a quiet day with just a few tail shots form these whales for our passengers to capture. Then they break loose, both whales burst from the surface and continue to breach for about 20 minutes. At times breaching very close to us. These whales were so close at times as they burst from the water you could see every marking on their bellies. It is about now I am wondering why I left my camera on the back seat of my car back at the marina. The whales are making their way towards Bald Head, and after a while they start to quieten down. At times laying on their side and slapping their pectoral fin on the sea surface. We follow them a little further and then head home. With the whales behind us every body is busy checking to see if they had captured the spectacular show we had all witnessed. There were some great shots. Message to self "don't leave camera in car again".

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"

Here They Come

Tuesday morning and we have 52 students from a Rockingham school join us on a morning cruise. We head out and cruise along Outer Brambles cruise over the passage between Mistaken Island and the northern end of Goode Beach. We enjoy some morning tea as we look for some dolphins. As we sit off Whale World talking about the days of whaling in Albany one of the local fishing boats calls to tell me that they spotted a couple of blows in a line between the the safe water marker and Michaelmas Island. We head out to see if we can find the whales. We do have some time constraints so cant spend too much time looking. But no luck today. We head towards Middleton Beach and back towards home and as we re-enter Princess Royal Harbour the deck from the fishing boat that had spotted the whale phones me to say he is sitting up on  Marine Drive and he can see the whales we were looking for, but they are now on the outer limits of King George Sound.