Humpback Whales of Queensland were spectacular today as we enjoyed observing their boisterous, acrobatic and educational displays. A warm winters day with a bright blue sky and wonderfully calm sea welcomed us as we entered the Humpback Whale sighting grounds and began our search. A southbound pod of three bachelors were our first pod for the morning as the very relaxed individuals meandered south together. Safety in numbers and companionship are both benefits for travelling in this way for the younger bachelor males. Wishing them well we moved out to an area three pods were beginning to converge on as a very brief surfacing of a Dwarf Minke Whale appeared off our stern with the local Bottlenose Dolphins cruising past. One of the Humpback pods were very noisy as the female pec slapped away as her male escort did a few more dominant fluke slaps. The pod was moving in towards the coast and appeared to be looking for the perfect area to have an afternoon siesta. The female still seemed interested in attracting attention as her magnificent pec slapping continued as one thousand kilograms came crashing down.
The afternoon was just as lovely as the morning with a warm breeze ruffling the oceans surface and we found our first pod within moments after departing the seaway. Approaching we could observe a mother, calf and protective male escort slowly migrating north. The pod was relaxed and moving alongside us peacefully as they covered ground efficiently. A few other vessels approached and it was a perfect time to wish this lovely pod well for their afternoon travels ahead and join with a second pod a mile north. Approaching the area we watched on carefully as this Humpback had been observed earlier breaching. Surfacing a short distance away the juvenile Humpback launched into breaching once more and began to breach directly towards the Whale Watch 1! Juveniles can often be very boisterous and enthusiastic with much interest towards all around them and this little one was very keen to come over and say hello. Moving around our stern and showing interest he was distracted by the approaching vessels as all his breaching had been noticed which caused him to become shy. Noticing his change in body language we gently let him be and moved out to another pod only a mile or so away. It was a very large and confident mother whale with her gorgeous young calf migrating north. It was wonderful to spend some time travelling with these Humpback Whales of Queensland and enjoying their company on yet another magnificent winters day.
