"Strong Winds But Worth The Trip"

Strong winds and rain cover the harbor we leave the marina. We have a few brave souls on board who where encouraged to cruise after yesterdays beautiful weather. We head out to Michaelmas Island after whales were sighted in the area. Passengers enjoy a hot coffee down stairs as I drive from the fly-bridge as it gives me better viability. After making our way between the islands we head over towards Nanarup Beach, I see what I believe is a blow some distance away and spend some time trying to find it again. I give up and continue towards Nanarup. We cruise the beach in calmer waters hoping to find a Southern Right whale, but no luck. The weather is abating and when we clear the head land so we can contact Bernie our spotter he tells us that whales are off the NW end of Breaksea Island. As I am talking to Bernie I see a huge splash that can only be a whale breaching. We head in that direction and more breaches as we approach. I loose the whales for a while and then see a breach out of the corner of my eye. The sea conditions are a little choppy so I have to tack as I make our way to the whales as they are now heading inshore on the northern side of the island. As we get close we count 6 to 8 whales. Following them as they turn and head towards Bald Head we follow for some time and then with all of our passengers happy we head for home. On the way home with wind strength increasing again, I even head down stairs to the warmth of the main cabin and get some of the children on-board to take the wheel to drive us back to the marina.
"Think Whales think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest.

"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.

How Many Whales?

Calm weather and sunny skies great us as we leave Princess Royal Harbour. We are told that several blows have been seen out deep on the line between Breaksea Island and Bald head. So off we go at 1800 rpm on our twin Volvo 360 hp motors. Cruising at about 15 kts, we have enough time to enjoy a coffee and then we are in the area the sightings were made. We don't see any blows close so decide to head west towards bald head as passengers on the top deck cry out their she blows !! We catch up with a young humpback, about 8-10 metres long cruising west slow. We follow for some time and as he takes a dive we turn and head east to see blows off in the distance.

Then that huge splash that tells us that the boys have started to show off. Or is it the girls feeling happy. Hey it is mating season :)
"We are often asked why the whales breach? Folks I truly believe its because they can. I have seen adults breach and new born calves follow suit. Are they communicating well may be but they seem to do it for no apparent reason with no apparent out come, and with no predictability"

As we get a little closer we count about 6 blows as the whales hit the surface. Then we see the whales heading towards us, so put the motors in to neutral, then we notice that the whales are chasing a pod of bottle nose dolphins. The dolphins bring great screams of excitement from the group of Indian passengers on board. The whales and dolphins swim around the boat, they seam to be playing a game of tag. After about 10 minutes the whales split into 2 pods some heading off to another pod coming close to see what all the commotion is all about. Whales are all around us, we count about 6 different pods within 1 km. We see a breach and head to that pod hoping it will not be a one of. As we approach the breaching stops. Then another whale breaches several hundred metres away. Now they are just teasing us. No one gets any pics of breaches but some times its just good to take it all in and put it in the memory banks. We leave and head to a colony of New Zealand fur seals. Then its off home, so how many whales did we see. Well I think some where between 18 and 20 close and more, that we just didn't worry about going to. All in all a good day.
Master of the vessel Paul Guest