Steve's Whale One - Photo of the Day

20 July 2007

Whale One - Photo of the Day (20 July 2007)

Well what an awesome day we’ve had out on the water today!

What started with a strong wind warning for this afternoon and a very small crowd on the boat we all wondered what the day was going to bring… but I doubt any of us expected the acrobatic circus we witnessed!

Our day begun cruising out towards Moreton Island and just as we came into the whale highway we were greeted by a pair of breaching humpback whales! We encountered two whales and judging by the size and energy of the smaller whale we guessed it was a mother with last year’s calf. The little guy was extremely enthusiastic breaching right beside the boat with the gorgeous backdrop of the Glasshouse Mountains (see attached pics). We travelled with these whales for a while as they put on a magnificent show, once the little one exhausted 'himself' with his breach-a-thon mum did a couple of peduncle throws, a little tail slap and then everything slowed down... perfect timing for a lunch break!

We found another sub adult male cruising by himself who breached a few times and then began powering south (the wrong way this time of year) so we turned around in search of more whales heading north. Finding another sub adult male and a pair of enthusiastically breaching massive adults. This male and female pair cruised alongside the boat for a while, the male breaching a couple of times just off the side of the boat and the female throwing her tail and peduncle around... then we let our "hostess with the mostest" Anglea on the microphone to get the crowd going and this seemed to spark some serious interest from the whales who came right over to the side of the boat, did a couple of circles around us checking out where the crazy noise was coming from (this lead to all passengers and crew running around the boat in all directions chasing the whales as they circled us... very funny but a whole lot of fun was had by all!). This behaviour is referred to as a "mugging" and is definately the most sought after experience for any whale watcher (especially those of us that have seen almost everything!).

An absolutely awesome day was had by all... hope to bring you more good news tomorrow!

Sara