7 Whales

Calm conditions greet us today. I have spent time sitting at the car park on Marine Drive and seen 3 pods of whales cruising on the Humpback Highway. We head out towards Limestone Head, knowing that the whales I saw earlier from Marine Drive would now be well and truly past Bald Head and so we will not catch up with them. It dose not matter though as out spotter Bernie has seen several pods out on the line. We find the first pod, a pair of whales and they are just cruising. Looking east here come another 3 whales but one is making a bit of a splash. We go to get a closer look. The pod is made up of 2 large whales and a smaller one. Its the little one who is making the splash. We follow these guys until they get close to Bald Head and then we head off to check out seals in the Bald Head Cove. As we head in that direction we spot 2 whales off to our port side. We turn in that direction and the whales now head towards us. They disapiar for a little while, passengers question where they have gone. But then as if on key, a whale bursts from the water, within 100 metres from our vessel. Too quickly and unexpected for any one to get any pictures other than the splash as the whale crashes back to the sea surface.

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.

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.

Looking for Love

The weather has calmed down. (Not Before Time) Although the is a bit of South Westerly swell rolling into King George Sound. We cruise past one of the bulk carriers anchored close to Mistaken Island. Bernie has told me that he saw several whales heading towards Bald Head. I know we wont see those whales as they will be going past the Salmon Holes by the time we get to Bald Head, and truthfully the swell out side the sound would make things very uncomfortable. We cruise past the eastern end of Mistaken Island then in to Frenchman Bay, past the wreck of HMAS Perth, Seal Rock and over to Limestone Head. As we get close to Limestone Head the call comes from Bernie that he thought he saw a blow close to the mainland, As I am chatting to Bernie, Eve my deckie comes to the bow and says she thinks she saw a blow in the direction of the islands, but not too far away. With reduced revs we turn and head in that direction. When looking for whales you have to scan all around as often a whale will pop up behind you, or off to either side. I spot a soft blow about 600 metres away. We find 1 humpback whale and follow him for some time as it just slowly cruises north, over towards the 3 ships at anchor. I am sure that he is "Looking for Love". I say him but I have no idea if the whale was a bull or cow. Being mating season you would think if it was a cow then a bull would not be far away. I am often asked to identify between bull and cow. I assume that if you have 2 whales the one in front is probably the female and the one following with its tongue hanging out is most likely the male. Why should things be different with whales. We leave this whale after some time and head towards Whale-world and cruise back toward home along the coast.

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.

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".