Three male humpbacks joined the pod with Whale Watch Queensland this morning. A huge plume of white water caught our attention as we headed out towards the sighting grounds and was soon followed by the very distinctive blow of a Humpback Whale. Approaching the pod we could see that the lone breacher we had observed from a distance had now joined with two other young whales. The boys looked to be in a curious mood as they were meandering to the south without much urgency. After spending some time building our relationship and trust with the three bachelor males we were treated to a warm welcome of spy hops and slow tail dives meters from our vessel. Our youngest pod member onboard made three new friends that he couldn’t stop waving at and as he did our whales would roll around on the surface trying to get a better look, one rolling right out of the water with his eye looking straight back towards all of our Pod Members onboard.
Building trust with whales takes time and to enjoy these wonderful close encounters also means finding he right pod to interact with firstly. The three boys were relaxed, curious and in a very social mood making the perfect situation for an intimate and curious encounter. Throughout our interaction we hardly moved at all as the three Humpbacks followed the Whale Watch 1 with much interest. Being water level with these beautiful creatures is absolutely amazing and we enjoy every time they want to come over and check us out, the sheer size of these whales is hard to imagine unless they are a few meters from you like they were today. It’s interactions like these we really treasure as it goes to show a bit of patience and respect goes a very long way in the whale world and no matter how many whales we meet and what type of character they are at the end of the day if you treat them like they deserve to be treated in return you will have a memory you’ll never forget and find yourself being welcomed into The Pod!
