Gold Coast Humpback Whales

With only a week to go till the end of the whale season, the whales are still out there but are more interested in getting back to Antarctica than entertaining us.

Today was my last day for the season as I am heading off to Canada in a couple of days to see the Polar Bears in Churchill.

I was really hoping for an exciting morning and even managed to talk my 20 year old son to come out for the morning. Unfortunately the most the whales offered us, was short down times and lots of flukes.

The scar marks on this fluke are most probably the result of an Orca attack.

I wish every one who has followed my whale site this season a very safe and happy ending to the year and I look forward to bringing more stories and photos to you in 2010.

The season starts on June 1st.

After a week of not feeling well, it was good to get out on the water again. We saw, as we so often do now, a mother and her calf just off the beach, too close to stop but not far away we could see lots of splashing going on, so out we headed.

A pod of 4 whales put on a lovely show of pec slapping.

There was moments when 2 of the whales were on their backs at the same time, lifting their pecs and slapping them hard down on the surface. An amazing sight and sound.

 The pod of 4 whales broke into 2 pods of 2, eventually coming back together again. It appeared that there was some males in the pod, which was evident in their competitive display.

Some of you who read this will not be aware that pods of whales do not stay together.  Mothers and their calves are the exception to this. Pods of whales are often together for very short periods. It is possible this pod of 4 had just joined up when we came across them.

By the time we left the pod of 4, 2 were still together and the other 2 had broken away from the pod and from each other, making 3 pods. There was a breach in the distance before we left, possibly another whale communicating to these whales.

Great day on the water in spite of the howling wind, choppy conditions and another dust storm on the way. You will see from my photos what the conditions were like. Holding my camera with such a long lens in the strong winds is very difficult and there was moments I wanted to give up but I persisted.

We saw a lot of blows today and we passed a number of pods that were doing very little, till we came across a slightly more active pod. This pod consisted of 6 whales. It appeared that a pod of 4 and a pod of 2 had come together.

There was a few lunges most probably a male telling another male to get out of the way, the lady was his.

Then we discovered one of the whales had only half a fluke. Looking at the markings on the fluke, one would think that the whale may have been born this way but I will leave it to the researchers  to make the final conclusion.

I tried desperately to get 6 whales in a photo but the most I could do is 4.

I know there is a lot of photos in my album from today but there was some good moments, a little activity and sheer magic to watch 6 whales together.

I hope you can get the feel of the day from my photos.

This morning while we were out whale watching, Vanuatu was rocked by the 3 major earthquakes, which resulted in a Tsunami warning across the East Coast of Australia. Now some of you who read this may disagree with me, while there are others who won’t. We experienced one of the quietest days we have had on the water this year and I believe the whales must have felt or experienced in some way, the movement under the ocean.

As we left the seaway we saw a young calf breeching but as it was in the 3 mile zone off the beach, we as a commercial whale watching business, cannot stop to whale watch. As we passed it by, I captured a few shots.

From there on, it didn’t improve. We couldn’t find whales anywhere and when we did, their down time was counted at 18 minutes, so when they resurfaced and the boat had finally caught up with them, they had dived deep again leaving us once again on our own. The other two whale watching boats were in the same situation and ended up in the same area as us trying to keep tabs on this mature pod of 2.

These were the only photos I could capture and I was most probably the only person on board Spirit to get these few.

Mums and calves are predominantly what we are seeing at present and what a joy it is.

Most of the time it is calf’s born this season but we are also seeing calf's, possibly from last years births. Calves stay with their mums for 2 years.

Today's  calf that we spent much of the morning with, both at the beginning and end of our trip, was from last year or even the year before. It looked to us that the mother and calf had both been hit by a boat, as you will see from the dorsal area.

Mother’s dorsal

and calf's dorsal

Taking photos of the whales is not just about capturing beautiful images of these creatures but gathering as much information from these photos for researchers.

I just love to watch these young calf's rolling all over the water.

And learning what their bodies can do.

It is hard to believe just how many whales we are seeing at the moment. Before we had reached 1.5 miles off the shore, we had seen 5 pods of whales and more in the distance.

We spent most of the morning with a mother and her calf. The calf appeared to have it’s mum swimming all over the ocean. It was very curious and the mother was giving it some free reign but keeping a close eye on the little tyke from just beneath the surface.

Watching the calf of less than a couple of months of age, launch itself clear of the water had everyone oooing and arrrring.

Tomorrow the swell and the wind are suppose to pick up so I wonder what the whales will have in store for us.

Wow…………….what a day we had on the water today.

First it was a mother and her calf on the 3 mile fence line, then we moved on to a pod of 4 whales that were showing us some lovely flukes and one of the pod spent a great deal of time on its back, lifting its pectoral fins out of the water, possibly to cool down.

They was pods everywhere, it was truly a magnificent sight. Everywhere we looked we could see blows and activity. It wasn’t as calm as it had been the last couple of days on the water so whether this had anything to do with the whales being more active, we will most probably never know.

A breech not too far away caught our attention just as we were about to head back to shore so skipper did a little detour out to get a closer look. Dolphins were swimming around the boat when one of the whales launched itself out of the water, baring a beautiful black belly. Of course no-one caught it on camera but witnessing it without being behind a lens is sometimes better. This pod of two proceeded to put an the most spectacular tail slapping show I think I have seen. From what I can see in my photos, it appears we had a pod of 2 females.

We are seeing so many whales at present that each day blends into each other and it is very hard to remember which whales were doing what and on what day. After a fantastic day on the water today, it is truly difficult for me to remember what happened yesterday. Looking at my photos helps to jog my memory.

We stayed with  a pod of 5 whales for much of the morning. One of the whales spent a great deal of time on his or her back while the others, possibly males, swam close by.

And this little calf, that we only saw in the distance, looked like he had just discovered he had a tail. It was swinging it around like a lasso and slamming it down on the surface. Very cute to watch.

A beautiful day on the water with a mother and her calf. They were so relaxed around the boat, coming very close. Mother would occasionally lift her head to check out the surroundings but she was not bothered by us being there at all. 

That is until a jet skier arrived on the scene and planted himself directly in the mother and her calf's way. The mother lifted her head and within seconds, she and her calf dived deep and fast and that was the last we saw of them. I have the photographic evidence of the jet skier, let’s hope the authorities will act upon them.

After a couple of weeks of no whales, I was eager to get back out on the water.

Today proved to be a very quiet day but showed that the whales are travelling in bigger pods. I was very surprised to see some whales still travelling in a northerly direction.

This pod of 5 whales were all over the ocean but were predominantly travelling in a southerly direction. They kept skipper very busy trying to find where they were going to surface next.

Today was another of those days where whales were blowing in all directions but they were all having very long down times. It was 2 long hours before a pod of 3 whales decided to pay us some attention.

Moments like these, make those slow mornings worth while.

As predicted, it was picture perfect on the water today.  We found a couple of pods of whales north of the seaway and all heading in a northerly direction at no great speed.  My first photo of the day was a whale swimming straight for the boat.

Of course skipper cut the engine while the whale decided which way he was going.

There was a period where all whales seemed to come together. There was no aggression, no courting, they all seemed happy to greet one another and then they parted ways, never to far from one another though.

Just as we were about to turn around and head for home, a juvenile that was seen breaching a couple of times, most probably communicating with these pods, appeared briefly beside the boat.

It is always good to end a morning on the water on a high note.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring as conditions are suppose to continue like today.

A near perfect day on the water today and to top it off, we had a pod of two whales that stayed very close to the boat giving the passengers on board something to remember.

There was spy hopping

Lots of flukes

And lots of rolling over and showing their beautiful white bellies.

Tomorrow the day is suppose to be picture perfect, so here’s to another great day on the water.

On Friday I woke to the sound of rain, what a welcome sound it was but I wasn’t going to let it put me off going out to see the whales.

On second thoughts, maybe I should have stayed in bed.

Just as a rain squall hit us, one of the whales lifted its head right out of the water to see what was going on. Unfortunately my camera was well packed away and visibility was poor so it was time to head back to shore.

After the weekend off, I am sure there will be plenty of activity to come next week.

Today I had the pleasure of finally meeting the lady that I send all my fluke photos too. It is the one thing that I am able to contribute into the research of the Humpback whales.

It was a little choppy on the water today and this in itself appeared to stir the whales up from their sleepy behaviour that we have been seeing over the last couple of weeks.

Lots of breaching and tail slapping was coming from all around us. One of the crew counted 11 pods in close proximity.

Eventually the activity surrounding us slowed down and we saw some blows thinking that maybe some of the pods we had been watching had come together.  Looking at my photos now I know that that was not the case. We had actually come across another pod of 4 whales and this pod was in some very heated up, fast moving, aggressive behaviour.

Our first sighting of the pod was when they came to the surface and one whale  was being chased at high speed through the water by 3 of the whales.

At times the whales would lift their heads out of the water, having made themselves look more threatening by taking in water to open up their pleats and make themselves  look meaner and tougher and with all that extra weight in their mouths, they would slam their chins down on the whale in front of them.

I have tried to show some of the action in my photos, so please, take the time to look at them slowly. You will see in some shots where the whale has brought its chin down on another.

Today started off to be one of the more quieter days that I have experienced on the water.

For 2 hours we followed a pod of two whales that we coming to the surface every 7-10 minutes, breathing and then diving deep again.  I had chosen to sit up on the roof of Spirit today, hoping that we might get a mugging and I would be in a good position to photograph it.

At 11am, Skipper Jason advised everyone that we would have to be turning back soon, so I climbed down from my perch and proceeded to put my cameras away. I then went on downstairs to sign one of my books for a lovely elderly lady. 

What then happened I had predicted when I was back upstairs.  As I looked out the doorway window, the two whales came to the surface right beside the boat. No camera in my hand I could only cheer and wave with delight. The best thing of all was seeing the expression on the elderly lady’s face who was beside me. It absolutely made her day.

Next I could hear cheers and heard that the whales were at the front of the boat. I ran to the front only to discover I was too late.  I stood there for a short while hoping the whales may resurface close by and I would get to enjoy their closeness without my cameras around my neck. No such luck, so I headed to the back of the boat where the stairs are. There I stopped to chat to a lady who was suffering from seasickness and next thing I know, cheering was coming from all over the boat. One of the whales had breeched near the front.

A passenger close to me cried out that she had missed the shot and I told her, “Put your camera up now, the whale will breach again” and sure enough it did.

I then ran up the stairs, trying to get past passengers that were blocking my path. I unzipped my bag and ran with my camera to the side. I captured 9 chin slaps and have no idea our many I missed.

It was an absolutely magical moment after such a quiet morning.

Chin slaps are often a sign of annoyance or aggression.

In this case it was obvious the whales were annoyed by the number of boats that were around them. I think today we came extremely close to witnessing a small boat under attack from a whale. From my photo you will see this boat was overstepping his mark and acting unlawfully. Photos are a great source of evidence.

Our last day of winter and today it felt like it. After the extremely warm temperatures we have been experiencing of late, it was quite a shock to the system to have such a drop in temperature. Maybe the cooler day is what got the whales a little more active today.

Our first sighting was of a lone whale with a rather unusual dorsal heading in a southerly direction. Jason the skipper thought that the white scarring in front of the dorsal could be from a shark bite. You will see that it appears to have an odd shape.

This particular whale was spending a lot of time on the surface and had very short down times. You should have heard me cheer him on when he jumped out of the water. The first jump, I simply watched and enjoyed. The second and third I caught on camera.

After some time we saw another whale ahead of the boat and thinking it was the same whale, we followed. A closer look through my lens showed me the dorsal was different and we had another whale. Looking behind to find the unusual dorsal whale that we called “Chunky”, we found yet another whale. This time it was identified as being different from its fluke.

A rare black fluke.

We now had 3 whales in very close proximity and not coming to the surface a great deal. The breaching may have well been the whales way of communicating with each other.

In the distance I watched and counted a whale breach 9 times on the horizon, one after the other, with no break in between. Skipper turned the boat in that direction but when we got to the area where the whale had been spotted, there was not a sign of the whale, not a blow. We turned around and headed back to the 3 whales. When we reached them we discovered they had all come together and had now changed direction so they were going north.

Eventually we had to leave the pod of 3 and head back to the seaway. What happened next still astounds me as I recall it. Chunky appeared to be leading the pod and they picked up an incredible amount of speed and proceeded to follow the boat. We stopped a little further on to see the bubbles made from another whale that had just taken a dive. Chunky and its mates appeared behind the boat still approaching. As we left them, all three whales started breaching and tail slapping. It was one of the most awesome sights. I asked Skipper to stop and spend some more time but unfortunately we were already late for our return.

Two inquisitive whales heading on their south bound journey stopped in their tracks for a short time today, to get a better look at what we  humans are all about.

The encounter did not last long but we had high hopes that we would get a better mugging as there was blows everywhere. Pods and pods of whales in a short distance but none of them wanting to get close and personal. As we headed back to shore, we came across another of the whale boats being mugged by a lone whale.

Another day where we saw many whales but none of them are performing. My personal feelings are that we are not travelling far enough out. Closer to shore we are finding sleepy whales, not necessarily in a hurry but not wanting to do much at all, except breath and dive. I am wondering if the water is warmer closer to the shore and that is why they are not as energetic. Today's photos were taken of a cow and her calf most probably born last year. The calf never showed its fluke but mum did.

An extremely quiet day on the water today. It was quite choppy and very windy which made it difficult to see the blow of the whales. When we did find a whale we only had a short time left but the juvenile didn’t let us down. Lots of tail slaps and a couple of breaches made up for the quiet morning.

Dolphins are always a welcome sight.

A very special day was had today. After scanning the ocean and travelling for what seemed like forever, we came across a pod of 3 whales, 12 nautical miles south of the Seaway or 11.4 nautical miles off the beach.

This pod appeared to be as pleased to see us as we were to see them. Countless times the whales swam beneath the boat, never in a hurry, it was like they were swimming in slow motion. Mindy our number one crew member in my eyes, was in the spotters tower and she was able to tell everyone where the whales were and where they were going to surface next.

The whales responded to the cheering and waving from the passengers

and at one stage I found myself at the back of the boat, talking to one of the whales beneath the surface and in a soft voice, asking him from the bottom of my heart to put his head up and say hello to me. He did just that.

I found a number of times today, I stopped taking photos just to talk to the whales. It was a brilliant day in my eyes. For the first time, I got really close to the whales as I ran from one side of the boat to the other and then up to the bow and back to the rear. The weather conditions were beyond perfect. The sea was calm and their wasn’t a breathe of wind.

We are staring to see more whales heading south now, than we are seeing whales going north. Today we found a pod of 3 whales at about 4 miles. We followed them as they swam at a great rate south east. There was times where we thought we had encountered a courting couple and their intruder with the great speed and the lunging that was going on. After a mile or 2, they slowed down and the 3 were happy to swim together. It was nice to be able to capture 3 whales so close together.

An extremely calm day was had on the water today. We had pods going south and we had pods going north and we had pods trying to sneak by unseen.  But when all eyes are busy panning the ocean surface, looking for any sign of a whale, it is seldom they get past undetected.

While talking to a lady on board Spirit today, I was watching the dead calm water beside the boat and without realizing it, there was a whale swimming alongside the boat just beneath the surface. What a glorious sight it was as I grabbed for my camera with my wide angle lens, never taking my eyes from the magnificent sight.

A day of flukes and tail slapping.