Whale Watch Gold Coast was superb today as we met a beautiful newborn calf before finding ourselves surrounded by two bachelor males who became besotted with the Whale Watch 1 and all of our Pod Members onboard! A lovely warm breeze and perfect conditions made for a spectacular start to our morning as we departed the seaway and made our way out towards the sighting grounds. A few pods were sighted but keeping a low profile due to the high amount of recreational vessel traffic in the area. A mother and her newborn calf were moving in towards the coastline and on our approach we could see that they were being followed too closely by recreational boats. She raced towards us and we gently travelled with her until she settled and began to swim at a more relaxed pace. She was a remarkably patient female and even though many vessels were moving around the area she was focused to continue north and up into more isolated waters. Eventually many of the recreational boats left the area and it was at that time we could bid farewell to mother and calf knowing they were now in a much better situation and maintaining a good speed to move out of the busier area and up into a nice quiet location for a good sleep and feed for her gorgeous new calf.
Moving out we could observe a number of pods with one very heavily pregnant female northbound and three other pods southbound. Amongst the southbound pods was a rather boisterous pod that had been breaching and we approached the area to see what these particular Humpback Whales were communicating towards all those that could hear them. Watching carefully for their next surfacing an enormous exhale erupted just off our stern as the two males had decided to come over and investigate the Whale Watch 1 with much interest. The boys were enormous and although young males both had immense confidence as they swam around and underneath us for a very close look. Drifting with them they continued to follow us as one of the males in particular became besotted with us and would body block his mate from getting too close… we had become his girlfriend! Cheekily he even completed a few small tail slaps towards the second male as he claimed us as his and it was an extraordinary experience to be in the presence of these magnificent and intelligent whales watching their communication unfold. The younger male bachelors often don’t have the same breeding opportunities due to their smaller size they can find it difficult to compete against much larger and older males. Due to that situation many of these young bachelors love the opportunity to claim something as their own and today that just happened to be the Whale Watch 1 much to the delight of our Pod Members!
