Southbound Gold Coast Whales were observed today as they mingled and socialised together with spectacular pec slapping amongst the Language of the Whales observed. A lovely morning to be out on the water as soon after departing the seaway we could observe multiple pods scattered and approached what appeared to be a lone traveler. Arriving on scene we soon realised that this particular Humpback Whale was actually travelling with a companion as the second individual surfaced alongside and we appeared to have a recently formed escort pod. The two were following each other curiously and after a little while one of the whales rolled over into flirty pec slapping. It was beautiful to see and as we waited for their next surfacing we soon noticed another pod approaching the area while a third pod began to tail lob off in the distance. Our escort pod appeared from underneath our feet and we watched excitedly to see what the next phase of the conversation would be amongst all of these boisterous Humpback Whales.
A pod further ahead began to tail slap and pec slap with two enormous adults communicating clearly. A brisk breeze which wasn’t forecast but added to the Humpback drama had arrived which lifted the white water the whales were displacing and sent it flying creating a dramatic scene amongst the surface activity. Humpback Whales will often use pec slapping, fluke slapping, breaching and other surface behaviours as a means of communicating to pods both close to them and further away. It worked well this morning as the multiple pods converged and at one point we had a pod of four being approached by another pod of two curious whales. It is fantastic to see Humpback Whales interacting and communicating together and a short time after joining they began to go their own way again and to our surprise we watched on as the larger adults began to move south at a steady pace. It could well be the very start of the change from northern to southern migration as over the coming days and weeks it will become more common to observe the Humpback Whales momentum switching from northbound to southbound Gold Coast Whales.
