11 June 2022
We were privileged on this morning’s whale watching cruise, aboard the Spirit of Port, to witness a heat run consisting of multiple pods of 8 or more Humpback Whales pursuing the female Humpback Whale. There was lots of grunting and fast paced action during the chase with the males contesting for the female’s attention. We could tell from the surface of the water there was lots of activity underneath and at one point the whales came within 100m of the vessel. A heat run is where a male whale vies for the attention of a female whale chasing her which can cause a frenzy of activity.
During the afternoon whale watching cruise, Renee the Cruise Director shared a sighting of a pod of Inshore Bottlenose Dolphins as they were cruising outside the heads.
Once the Spirit of Port was located off Fingal Lighthouse they viewed several Humpback Whale pods with an encounter of a lone juvenile whale actively breaching, swimming and appeared to be playing a game of hide and seek under the boat and popping up on the other side of the vessel.
There is nothing more magical than seeing the water illuminated in the depths of the ocean as the whale slowly makes its way to the surface showing their beautiful white under belly.