30 MAY 2023
Our morning whale watch cruise aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer has located two pods of whales with two Humpback Whales in each pod. We picked the one pod that was spending more time on the surface of the water, and both whales became a little active showing off with a couple tail lobs creating lots of white watering splashing and showing how long the pectoral fins are by splashing them on the surface of the water. The whales continues swimming north bound but at one point the whales popped up behind the vessel with all our passengers walking to the back of the vessel waiting for them to surface again, but much to the surprise of the passenger remaining on the bow of the vessel the whales have appeared at the front of the boat.
Before turning for home we have cruised past the seals on Cabbage Tree Island.
Have you ever seen a sleeping whale? Humpback Whales have the ability to shut down half of their brains to rest and remain partially awake to keep breathing, they are able to stay motionless for up to 30 minutes at a time. We have located a pod of three Humpback Whales close to Fingal Island, they have all appeared to be sleeping as they were traveling extremely slow and not doing much at all. While observing the sleeping pod we could see another pod a little further off, but they disappeared from sight.
Leaving the whales to continue their snooze, Captain Jared has taken our passengers up to Cabbage Tree Island where we have been joined by a pod of Oceanic Dolphins, and viewed the seals basking in the sunshine,