6 JULY 2025
Have you ever seen and heard a Humpback Whale at play – our passengers aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer have witnessed a large adult Humpback Whale rolling about on the surface of the water and hitting its very large pectoral fins on the surface of the water. The sound of a pec slap reverberates and can take a couple of seconds for you to hear, but there is such power in their strong fins. In another pod there have been 4 – 6 large adult Humpback Whales, the whales were swimming in around the depth of 70 meters of water, and spending 2 – 4 minutes on sounding dives. We could also see more pods in the distance. The headcount of seals at Cabbage Tree Island this morning was 6 seals lazing on the rocks.
11am Whale Watch Cruise on MV Osprey as we cruised out through the headland have spotted a seal chasing down its mid morning snack of fish, the seals sure pick up the speed when there is food involved. The crew have then located a pod of two adult Humpback Whales, we have patiently stuck with the pair traveling along at their speed. The whales have zigzagged their direction and come in with a close pass of the vessel. While waiting for the whales to reappear one of the pair have surprised everyone and breached in close proximity to the bow splashing people on the front deck, the second whale followed quickly to breach just in front of its partner. Then as they seemed to be on a roll they have showed off with another 6 breaches!
After all the excitement we have bid farewell to our new Humpback Whales friends heading back towards home, making a detour along Jimmy’s Beach to round off an amazing morning on the water with a pod of local Port Stephens Bottlenose Dolphins.
The action on the water has continued for passengers onboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer as they have met up with a mixed pod of large adults and juvenile Humpback Whales in the middle of a heat run. The males were jostling and pushing each other as they tried to impress the female within the pod.
Photo credit: Lee Matthew Photography