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Whale Sightings

3 October 2022

As the whales continue to make their journey south our passengers are getting to see a lot of action on the high seas.  Today’s morning cruise passengers saw two pods of whales.  One group spent a lot time travelling spending little time on the surface. However, the second pod was very active, doing tail lobs,…

29 September 2022

Our morning cruise passengers were given a great show when an adult whale totally ‘mugged’ our Hinchinbrook Explorer vessel.  It spent a long time alongside the boat, giving passengers plenty of photo opportunities to capture that ‘once in a lifetime’ shot. Our afternoon whale watch cruise saw 2 groups of Mother and Calves.  Lots of showing…

28 September 2022

Aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer’s morning cruise the passengers were entertained to 3 pods of Whales.  1 pod consisted of a mother, calf and escort with pectoral fin and tail slapping with good surface time.  About 50 Common Dolphins were sighted offshore and as they came into the harbour Bottlenose Dolphins were playing in the bay….

27 September 2022

The crew on the Hinchinbrook Explorer have described their experience during the morning whale watch cruise as the Humpback Whales ‘cuddling the boat’ The whales spent 45 minutes to an hour circling the boat. They were extremely inquisitive, eying the side of the vessel, diving under and checking out beneath the surface of the water….

26 September 2022

The Humpback mum and their calves are traveling along the Port Stephens coastline just in time for the NSW spring school holidays. We have spotted our first mum and bub pair in the shallow water close to Fingal Island this morning. The calf spent a fair amount of time being quite active, breaching and head…

25 September 2022

School has been in session for a Humpback Whale Calf during our morning whale watch cruise. The young half was practicing their breaching technique with mum closely watching on. At one point the calf had its body completely mid air sideways to the surface of the water. Spectacular! Photo credit: Lee Matthews Photography

24 September 2022

Perseverance paid off with the crew and skipper aboard this morning’s Whale Watching Cruise with 3 Whales found in time before heading back to shore.  The pod consisted of 2 adults and 1 calf who was very active learning the behaviours obviously from mum and the female escort with lots of tail slapping. Photo credit:…

21 September 2022

Today the passengers aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer were spoilt with 1 pod consisting of 6 Whales on a heat run.  There was lots of surface time, breaches and jostling with each other close to the vessel.

18 September 2022

Sunday mornings spent on the water at Port Stephens does not get much better than the smell of spring in the air! Luck has been on our side as the Hinchinbrook Explorer has cruised out through the headland at Shoal Bay today, we have quickly come across a pod of three Humpback Whales consisting of…

16 September 2022

What happens when a whale notices a photographer onboard a whale watch cruise – well we can report the adult whale that the crew on the morning cruise aboard the Hinchinbrook Explorer was very happy to show off breaching time and time again, even throwing in a few powerful head lunges just for good measure….

15 September 2022

With an overcast sky and a cooler day the crew where determined to make the most of it. Once clearing Port Stephens Heads (Mt Tomaree and Yacabba) they found a total of 6 Pods but they soon worked out that the pod included of a mum and calf, which out of all the whales in…

30 August 2022

The passengers today aboard the Spirit of Port on the morning cruise were entertained with 2 medium to large Whales heading south bound.  They were logging which is a behaviour they exhibit when at rest and appear like “logs”.  It is lying without forward movement at the surface of the water with the dorsal fin…