11 JULY 2024
Today we had both MV Osprey and Hinchinbrook Explorer heading out offshore to hopefully catch some action on the Humpback Highway. Between the two cruises we were able to find a pod of two very active juveniles “doing everything!” as excitedly described by our crew. The two juveniles were happily displaying a mixture of tail slaps, pectoral fin slaps, breaching and just jumping all over the place! Two adult males shortly after were seen showing some very aggressive behaviour with lots of head lunges, underwater exhalations and charge strikes.
On board Hinchinbrook explorer we located a few more pods, however on the quieter/less active side we did find a mother, escort and calf. At first glance we weren’t sure of the age of the calf, but after seeing a much smaller blow and its smaller body it looked to be a very newborn calf traveling northerly with its mother and escort.
On our journey back into Nelson Bay we also stopped off at Cabbage Tree Island to see a whole heap of lazy seals sunning themselves, and a few pods of bottle nose dolphins at Yacaaba Headland.
Photo credit: Lee Matthews Photography