Mermaid Beach Whale Watching today as we joined a number of pods moving south and one pod on the move north past Mermaid Beach. The rain had cleared but left a dramatically beautiful sky as we moved out into the sighting grounds and joined our first pod for the afternoon. It was three young adult whales moving south and competitive as the female had the attention from both of the boys. A passing pod to our left moved past quickly as the male in that escort pod launched into a huge breach and landed with an almighty splash. A dominant display to warn those bachelor males not to change their mind and approach his female instead. It seemed to work as the competition pod continued south and the escort pod pushed north. The local Bottlenose Dolphins came over to say hello and surrounded the Whale Watch 1 for some afternoon socialising.
The dolphins were also heading south as we took in the beautiful views of the Surfers Paradise skyline. It was a lovely winters afternoon and as the female chose her male the comp pods energy levels settled as we moved out to meet another few pods converging. A few powerful tail lobs asserted dominance as the Humpback Whales were young which is generally the pattern for the first of the southbound whales. Many of these youngsters were migrating north long before the others and are now ready to make their way back to Antarctica and also feeling a little bit hungry! Fresh krill will be ready and waiting for them to begin feasting on and growing in size and strength as they continue to mature. Once they have reached a length of over ten meters they are regarded as being mature enough to join in with the breeding season which is when their attitude towards the migration becomes more focused on the breeding activities. It was a great afternoon to enjoy our time off Mermaid Beach whale watching as the sunset lit up the sky beautifully.
