21 JUNE 2024
Heading out of the harbour along Shoal Bay beach we have sighted a number of large adult Humpback Whales close to the Fingal Island Lighthouse, but as they say you should always look behind you and sure enough this morning the crew have reported a bunch of breaches toward tomaree headland just we had been. We have cruised back towards the whale, it disappeared under the water on a dive for a while, but has then surprised everyone by breaching beside the boat and sending white water splashes in all directions. The whale continues with its antics laying on it’s back practicing backstroke for the Olympics and waving both pectoral fins in the air.
Moving on from this whale we have ventures off shore past the island and met up with an aggressive head run of four males chasing the one female in the pod.
Back outside the islands and saw an aggressive heat run of 4 boys chasing 1 girl, there has been lots of action with head lunges, tail lobs, shoving each other out of the way and making very loud vocal noises.
Our whale watch cruises are not all about the whales – today we have been joined by a pod of Common Dolphins riding the pressure wave on the bow of the boat as we are cruising along, and the seals on Cabbage Island was up to the count of 12 seals basking on the rock with one playful seal swimming in the water.
Photo credit: Lee Matthews Photography