Strong Winds

No cruise today as we have strong winds from the South West but they are forecast to subside tonight.

Wednesday 3rd.
The winds were forecast to strengthen so we head along Goode Beach as Bernie has told us that we have a quite whale some where in the area.

We find a very quiet whale just off Flat Rock. As it is just laying on the surface I start to wonder if it may be sick. It has some markings on its back and I try to get some photos. When the other charter boat arrives in the area the whale stirs,  swims down the side of our boat and then turns and starts to make its way to Bald Head. We follow as the whale is cruising close to the coast. We leave as we get close to seal cove at Bald Head and go to check the seals.

As we make our way into the cove we spot 2 more humpbacks heading towards Bald Head. We have seen more blows east but the wind is strengthening so I am not sure we want to go too far from the shelter of the coast.

Then I see a breach about 800 metres away, then a second so we must go and investigate. As we get there we slow when we get close to the area with the motors out of gear and with anticipation we wait. Then just 50 Metres from the bow we have a whale burst from the water.
Some of our passengers get photos but we all see it. This whale dives and then swims south west so we leave and head home.

Now the rain is closing in so I am alone on the fly-bridge. We cruise back into King George Sound and in the distance I see several blows. We will  keep an eye on them and hopefully they will continue on their current heading. The wind is now lifting spray over the boat so I change direction and head more into the wind so I don't get too wet and can watch these whales as they head in towards Goode Beach. We meet with them inshore of Seal Rock and as it is still raining most of the passengers choose to stay on the aft deck so as to stay dry and they are able to get some photos of 6 humpbacks cruising. We follow until they get very close to shore. They head north along the beach and as its on our way home we stick with them until they turn and head south back along the beach once again.

We head home and are met by a local professional fisherman in a small boat waiting at the channel entrance, as we enter the channel he follows us so we calm the water a little for him.

Tuesday 2nd.
2 Humpbacks @ Safe Water Marker,
2 Humpbacks cruise in towards Marine Drive,
3 Humpbacks cruising on the humpback highway.
More whales out deeper but no need to go out further.

Monday 1st.
1 humpback west of Michaelmas Island with tail out of water. Possible cow about to give birth.
2 Humpbacks cruising between Islands.
2 Humpbacks east of Breaksea Island.
3 Humpbacks travel towards Bald Head from east of Breaksea Island. More blows south of us as we follow the 3 above.

Sunday 30th June.
2 humpbacks swim around us for 1 hour in the middle of King George Sound.
1 Adult Humpback swims over Herald reef.


Saturday 29th.
1 quiet swims around us in King George Sound
1 Humpback swimming towards Bald Head from Middle of KGS.
6-8 Humpbacks cruising on the Humpbacks Highway. Lots of action.

Bad Weather / Consciences Skipper

I'm in my office its 9.10 am and the weather is not nice. I have contacted all those who have bookings for us today and told them we will not be cruising. All understand and are pleased that I have contacted them. Most can come tomorrow when the weather is forecast to be much, much, better. Yesterday the weather had not quite set in at 9 am but knowing that it was not far away I informed passengers that we would not be travelling. One group of three could not say in town until Friday as they had to be in Augusta. They asked if the whales had been seen there. I have not spoken to Paul at "Naturalist Charters"  for a while so took the opportunity to phone him to see how he is going. Yep heaps of whales but a little sick of the weather was his response.

The charter boat next to us did cruise and some asked why. I read on their board today "Wild, wild wonderful weather and our passengers had a ball. All return free." I ask you how you can enjoy a boat cruise with very strong winds and heavy rain.

I have been doing this a long time now and I do not know any one who enjoys seasickness. I do not cancel cruises, for no reason. But I refuse to cruise just to get your money. This at times costs me but I would rather people left town saying the weather stopped them seeing a whale than being angry with me for taking them out in horrendous weather conditions.

Some Days are Dimonds.

But not today :(
With Showers coming over the harbour we head out towards Limestone Head. Bernie says he has seen a whale there but it is very quiet. We spend time looking but if it dose not want to be seen then who are we to argue. We head out to Breaksea Island and as we are heading to the seal colony I spot several blows east of Michaelmas Island. But rather than head straight there we go and check on the seals. Thinking that the whales will be heading west so coming towards us. Problem is when we head towards where we saw the last blows we do not see any blows. We spend time cruising back and forth scanning all around. I know I was not mistaken and passengers who also saw the blows don't believe how a whale can disappear. We cruise over Herald Reef thinking that they might have slipped past us and headed into King George Sound inshore. As we decide that we will not see a whale today and start to head home Bernie calls on the two way and tells me that he has seen several blows heading to the east of Breaksea Island. Well we are not that far away so I turn the boat and head out. As we are getting close we see a whale smash its tail on the sea surface. Sea conditions are not that good where the whales are, we get a bit of a look but when the rain starts to set in and the whales head out to rougher seas its time to head home. The rain stays with us until we are just about to enter the marina.
My guests all tell me that some times you just have to accept that when dealing with nature you have to accept that every day is not going to be amazing, but I  want my guests to go away with great memories of their cruise so I offer a return cruise tomorrow and everyone accepts. With better weather forecast lets hope that the whales will play the game too.

Storm Forecast

Today the weather was not so good. The weather has changed and they  forecast strong winds for the afternoon. We head out but are a little limited to where we can go simply because we wish to keep things comfortable for our passengers. 3 girls who were going to travel yesterday, are with us today I so wish the had done our cruise yesterday and were today off doing the land based tour that they did yesterday. We head out to the Islands and the rain is limiting our viability. We round Michaelmas Island and head towards the seal colony @ Breaksea Island. From there we head towards Seal Rock now we have to contend with many white caps being whipped up by the strengthening winds. We round Mistaken Island and still, have had no success. The winds are getting stronger as we head back to the sheltered waters of princess Royal Harbour. We find some dolphins as we travel in through the channel other than the seals and a few sea birds it has been very quiet.  I feel sorry for today's passengers I wish they all had been able to be aboard yesterday. I know how good it can be and I wish all my passengers could experience  some of the sights I have seen. A storm is now raging out side I don't think we will be heading out on our Monday cruise.

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"

"Working Hard"

As we get closer to the end of the humpback migration sightings are getting a little harder. We left the marina today with word from Bernie that their are whales out on the line. We waste time and head straight out in that direction. As we make our way towards Bald Head we see that their is good swell hitting Breaksea Island. This could make things interesting. We get close to the line and Bernie tells us he can now see the whales that have come around the back of Breaksea Island. And just at that moment I see blows from the fly-bridge steering station. They are south east of us about 2 km away. Then we spot more blows south of us. but a little closer, so that's the pod we will approach first. We find 2 whales cruising to the west but they are a little hard to watch as we are now in the southern ocean and we have a 3 metre swell to contend with. We watch these whales for a little while as the head even further south west. Bernie tells us that the whales to our east are heading in towards King George Sound, we turn and find their blows quickly so head in that direction, hoping that they continue on that bearing. As we get closer all those on the fly-bridge see the whales blow several times but then disappear. We travel in the direction they were heading for some time. I do hate when whales do this. Bernie tells us that he was watching 2 whales between the islands and they have vanished also. But to get a bit of respite from the swell  I think we will head that way and see if they surface again in calmer waters. We don't find them but we do get to see several Australian and New Zealand seals that are hauled up on Breaksea Island. We round the eastern end of Michaelmas Island and then over to Frenchman Bay hoping that the whales have cruised in shore as a couple did the other day. No luck. All in all a pretty hard day.
"Master of the Vessel Silver Star II"
Paul Guest.

"Winter Blues"

Well folks with strong winds forecast for today we advised prospective passengers that I did not think we would be going far. With strong winds arriving around midnight I went to sleep knowing I could sleep in a little as the storm raged out side. One of the good things about having a safe marina to protect your boat. Gone are the days of having to move the boat to another jetty in the middle of the night, to take advantage of the lull in the winds before they changed direction and the wind strengths climbed again.
So I get to do a little office work. Oh please let the weather be better tomorrow. :)
Master of the vessel Paul Guest

"Winters Day"

The old days at the town jetty.

Well folks winter has arrived with vengeance over the past few days. With strong winds from the south west this morning I knew we would not be going any where today. Had a call from John in Gnowangerup asking if we were going any where. Tuesday to Friday look good at this stage so may be we will see them then. "Better to be on land wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were on land"

8.30 am I went and checked the boat in our nice new marina. It is good to know that the boat is safe no matter the conditions, no more sleepless nights wondering if the boat is OK.

Then drove around Marine Drive and had a chat to "Bernie" our spotter. Saw a couple of whales in King George Sound between rain storms. Decided it was a good day to do some office work, if there is such a day.
 
Master of the vessel Paul Guest