Arrived back n
Australia in time to take a couple of trips to Hervey Bay towards the
end of the whale season.
These truly magnificent
creatures are a sight to behold, just as long as they play nicely!
We had some magnificent
close up encounters,by merely drifting about. One morning early and
well before the whale watching vessels appeared we encountered a
mother and her calf, and we were clearly part of the calf’s
education for the day.
I imagine the vibes
between mum and calf. Mum; “watch this little one, if we swim
nearby, the humans will become very animated as they wave at us to
attract our attention.
What they really love
is when we swim up beside them and just loll about.
When you get bored with
that , just show off to them with that breach I taught you the other
day , and they will get even more excited”.
The water was glassy
and clear and over they swam towards us, circled around, every now
and again mum shifting her eye to make sure we were still watching.
Then a third and much bigger shadow appeared, dad? The the mother
whale was probably 10m long , the baby 3-4m but the third one was I
estimated longer than us.
 |
| here comes dad |
We were standing upon
the cabin roof , and apparently my voice tone changed rapidly , when
I saw the third one approaching us from astern and sweeping past us
with no effort at all. It knew exactly where it was going and how
close it was going to pass by. Planned and executed with perfect
precision, as it swept down alongside K'Gari, its huge pectoral fins
appearing to almost touch us.
We were entertained
with tail slapping, breaching and for me for the first time ever I
heard the whales singing. Their songs clearly reverberating through
the hulls. Fascinating at first during the day. The first night out
we didn't hear them at night. The second night out, anchored in
another part of the bay, we heard them all night. The higher pitched
calves and the lower pitched adults. To be honest they sounded a lot
like cows lowing mournfully or wompoo pigeons calling. All night
though, come on guys surely you sleep at some point???
I have occasionally be
known to make some memorable utterances, and one which I suspect will
go down in the family annals was made on the second night, after we
had been so fortunate to observe so many interactions with these
magnificent creatures.
We anchored in about
3.5m about 50-60 m off the beach, and were just kicking back with a
sundowner, discussing which the best encounter of the day, dad with
his swim by, or the baby calf who was trying to wake mum up as we
drifted past , when I said, 'well one thing for sure is there won't
be any in here, as we anchored in 3.5m', when from about 10 m off the
stern there came that now very familiar sound of a whale surfacing
and exhaling. What a display they put on. They swam closer to the
next boat along that had arrived after us in the anchorage , and they
tail slapped, fin slapped, and generally behaved in a fairly raucous
manner. I cannot repeat what the guy on the next boat said when they
suddenly came up a few feet from his stern, but I reckon it was
pretty much on the money and suitably expressed his concern and
amazement at this very close encounter and he had his camera going in
overdrive.
Next morning and again
on a second visit to this same anchorage there was a swim by as a few
pods of whales cruised by. Its obviously a popular location for them.
Another afternoon as we
were sailing towards our anchorage from the evening and as the
tourist boats headed home, we encountered a calf who was having so
much with his new found of skill of breaching that he repeated it
time and time and again – almost it could be interpreted as a
relief that all that day trippers were heading home.
Wonderful experience and i will definitely return, just like the whales.
