Whale Watch Queensland Season 2024 begins today as a beautiful winters morning welcomed us to the Humpback Whale sightings grounds in the waters off Surfers Paradise. The annual Humpback Whale migration is underway with many juveniles, escort pods and bachelor pods being the first of the population to journey towards warmer waters after a long summers feeding season in Antarctica. Preparing well by happily consuming one to two thousand kilograms of krill per day during their time in the feeding grounds the weight gained is vital to the overall success of their annual migration. The whales will not feed until their return back to Antarctica which means their fat reserves will have to sustain them for close on 13,000 kilometres and up to six months travel for some individuals, an extraordinary feat! Today within moments of departing the seaway we could see two enormous exhales heading directly towards us as two big bachelor boys were in migration mode and cruising.
A gentle introduction to the boys soon had us as members of their pod as we now cruised northbound together at a steady pace of 10km per hour. A good speed for migrating whales which doesn’t burn through fat reserves quickly but enables them to still achieve big distances each day with some individuals travelling between 100 to 200 kilometres. It was a beautiful morning with a light breeze ruffling the waters surface as the dark shadow of their enormous bodies could be seen just prior to them surfacing with a powerful exhalation. A few cheeky trumpets from one of the boys showed excitement as a couple of the local Bottlenose Dolphins followed along for a short time. The two species get on well and the dolphins will often be very keen to socialise and interact with the Humpback Whales as they cruise past if not too busy with their foraging. Lifting their flukes consistently in their steady swim pattern ensured we were able to collect great id images of both individuals to be entered into our catalogue and checked for any matches. A wonderful start to Whale Watch Queensland Season 2024 and we are very much looking forward to the season ahead, hope to see you onboard soon!
