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. 

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.

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. 

"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

"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.

"And One Makes Four"

The first whale we find today is a small adolescent humpback by its self, traveling west on the southern side of Michaelmas Island. It is very quiet so we head east to see what else we can find. We find a adult humpback cruising slowly and we tag along, after about 5 minutes we notice a little tiny calf with mum. We follow for some time hoping to get some good pictures. They head around the eastern end of Breaksea Island and then towards Bald Head. I see several blows and we leave the cow and calf, but the whales I see are traveling quite fast and by the time we catch up with them they are close to Bald Head. We follow trying to work out how many whales we are with. We have several pods in the area and all up we get to about 20 humpback whales for the day.

"Think Whales Think Albany"

Master of the vessel Paul Guest.

 

"Two Humpbacks in King George Sound"

Calm weather greets us today and with school holidays with us we have about 50 people booked to cruise with us today. We head out and Bernie tells us that several whales have just rounded Bald Head and he tells us that the only other blows he has seen are well east of Michaelmas Island. We head out towards the islands about a 30 minute steam. In the time it takes to get with in 1 km of Breaksea Island we have all enjoyed a hot coffee, tea or Milo and the odd cream biscuit. Expecting to travel through between the islands I chat to Bernie and ask if he can still see the whales coming from the east of Michaelmas Island. He tells me that they seem to be heading around the eastern end of Breaksea. I look up from the radio and see a blow about 600 metres away. Excellent we don't have to go much further. I thought that these two whales were heading towards Bald Head, so head in that direction slowly. But alas no they next appear, about where we had been when I first saw them. So we turn and follow much to the joy of all the children on board. These whales continue west going further into King George Sound, and at times popping up along side the boat so close you could smell their breath.  We have been with the whales for 30-minutes and the other whale-watching vessel operating in Albany arrives. They join us for 10 minutes and then leave and continue out of the sound. We continue on in past Seal Rock and as we do the whales start to play, slapping their tails on the surface. At times we take the motors out of gear and the whales would stop and turn back towards us, swim around us and then continue on their way in shore. We have spent over 1.5 hours with the whales and by the time we leave them we are not far from Mistaken Island and they have just turned to head out to sea again. Some times it just takes patience and the whales will please all aboard.
"Think Whales Think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest

"15 Humpback Whales for the Day"

We head out of the channel with word coming from Bernie that whales are close to Limestone Head. We head in that direction but by the time we get there the whales have headed around Bald Head. We follow although it is still a little choppy out there. The first whale we find is a small whale about 10 metres in length. This whale is taking 2 breaths and then diving so we look for another. Two blows 500 metres away so we go and take a look at these whales. Conditions are a bit ordinary and the whales don't want to play the game. We see another pod and they stay on the surface longer so we go take a look. We get a better look at these whales and travel with them for a little. Seeing two blows east of us I head in that direction as we are now getting some distance from Bald Head. Two whales cruise past us not even slowing down. I decided that we have had enough of the conditions with south easterly winds on the left over south westerly swell from the last cold front, so i tell the passengers that we will go back into King George Sound to see if we can find anything. We try to contact Bernie but I think he has headed home. I spot several blows over towards Breaksea Island. I count 5 blows so we go to have a look. We find 7 humpbacks now in 3 pods and all going in different directions, we pick the pair that are heading in towards Seal Rock and stay with them. With passengers getting great pictures of that amazing tail as the whale lifts it from the water in the motion of diving. We stick with this pair until we pass Seal Rock and then we leave them and head to travel through the passage between Mistaken Island and the mainland.
"Think Whales Think Albany"
Master of the vessel Paul Guest.

"Whales in Love"

Two whales today, just being whales in love. Folks it is mating season so we think when whales are seen in pairs it is probably a male (bull) and female (cow), and I think it is the cow in the front and the bull behind with his tongue hanging out, hey why should it be different for whales. Well we spent about 1 hour with a pair and then because they were pretty quiet we headed out to the eastern end of Michaelmas Island. We traveled out on the northern side of the island but we could not find any thing that looked like a whale. So while we were out there we decided to go and visit the new Zealand Fur Seal colony on Breaksea Island. Then headed back towards home still looking for more whales as we did.
"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