Tag: Juvenile

The very first Humpback Whales who begin the migration south once again are generally the yearlings, juveniles and young adults who have happily completed their leg of the northern migration and are now ready to begin feeding again down in Antarctica where an abundance of krill will soon await them. Their smaller bodies don’t quite have the capability of taking them to the very top of Western Australia and back again, but no need to worry because in a few years time they will have grown in size and be ready to take on the challenge after a good summer feeding on delicious krill of course!

Today we met pods of Humpbacks who were all travelling in pairs of two. A little bit of surface activity included a few breaches and tail slaps as they communicated to each other over distance which was a great example of the Language of the Whales for our guests. We then joined up with two young Humpbacks who were having a little rest and decided we were friendly looking and sleeping next to us for a little while sounded like a good idea to them. Always a wonderful moment when two large, wild whales have trust in us and are comfortable to log closely which shows the importance of respecting the whales that visit our coastlines and if you do very quickly you make new friends.

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A magnificent Saturday with our wonderful whales as we sighted our very familiar baby Humpback Flin Flinders and baby Southern Rights and their mums. Two adult Humpbacks showed us the perfect example of the magnificent inverted tail slapping and peduncle slaps only meters away from our bow while a yearling Humpback loved every moment playing with the local Bottlenose Dolphins and putting on quite the show!

The male Humpback who had a female he was escorting decided although he was curious and wanted to come check us out (almost as much as his female companion) it was important we knew he was boss so before approaching our vessel he threw two peduncle slaps our way and some inverted tail slapping in for good measure! Yep, we won’t be trying to take your girl away anytime soon handsome Humpback.

Today was the 7.7.17 and we had a lot of fun with our Humpback Whales on this lucky day… but then again every day is lucky when you get to spend time with these incredible Whales! We had big adults competing again today and also a few younger juveniles enjoying entertaining us with their cheeky approaches and one even tried out a little bit of tail sailing.

One of our many favourite reasons why we love to see so many Humpback Whales visiting Augusta is the opportunity for our guests to meet each of these individual characters and see the mischievous ones, the shy, the boisterous and the really funny ones who like standing on their head to make us laugh and smile! The weekend ahead is looking fantastic as we continue to see many Humpbacks moving through Flinders Bay everyday.

A busy Flinders Bay today as we met four very curious sub-adult Humpback Whales who came right up close to our vessel looking like submarines to check everything out! Although slightly smaller than the big adults these young Whales have an intense curiosity to what is happening around them with one of the individuals seeming to hide underneath us as two adult Humpbacks cruised past close by, we made the perfect sound footprint for her to hide under

All whales sighted today were in very good health and we can clearly see in these photo’s from the dorsal fin down towards their tail flukes they are very “round” and we can barely see the back bone. This shows us that the Whales are in good health and have had a successful season in the rich feeding  grounds of Antarctica over our summer months☀

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Hiding after the stormy weather over the last few days was a beautiful rainbow that we sighted on this mornings tour. We watched carefully in Flinders Bay as we approached the end of the rainbow itself and then we saw the treasure appear from the deep… a juvenile Humpback Whale! He was so happy to see us and at first made a cautious approach but before long was swimming centimetres away from the bow interacting with everyone onboard.

Such a close interaction allowed our guests to sight the numerous mature acorn barnacles on the rostrum of this 7-8 meter Humpback and you could also easily see the old scars from previous barnacles that have since fallen off on his dorsal fin. He was such a gentle character and would calmly swim in circles around us before approaching everyone on the bow to say hello again… don’t you just love meeting new friends!

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A very special day as Common Dolphins were sighted on all of our tours and in the afternoon they decided to have some fun with a pod of two Humpback Whales that elegantly twisted and turned on the oceans surface carefully matching every move of the nimble Dolphins. Much to our amazement two Humpbacks became three as a young yearling decided he wanted to join in on the fun and they also included us in this very social pod… we enjoyed every second!

Often these interactions do not last for long but the three Humpbacks and fifteen Common Dolphins played and interacted for over an hour until we quietly left them to continue their fun, which was still going even as we made our way back to the Augusta Boat Harbour. These unique interactions are so special and Flinders Bay offers the perfect opportunity as resting Humpbacks meet the local Dolphins who seem more than happy to share some of their time to have a bit of fun!

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Inspired by one of our youngest guests today, one of the juvenile Humpbacks sighted on this mornings tour was named Kaelyn and was enjoying an early morning cruise around Flinders Bay. Many whales have been quietly resting over the last two days with one whale logging on the surface for 10 minutes while we watched and another enjoying some surface rolling to get a few extra sunshine rays on his belly this afternoon… or perhaps he wanted a belly scratch?

The resting whales have been very relaxing to spend some time with as they enjoy the protection of Augusta and take a few moments to catch their breathe before continuing the fast paced northern migration. A few seemed very curious towards us surfacing close to the vessel and wondering what we were up to and why we seemed so interested in them!

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We had a very special early morning tour today and what an incredible sunrise it was, revealing a day that was going to be filled with outstanding Humpback interactions! Early arrivals into the bay were busy communicating with impressive peduncle slaps while a young whale was enjoying a seaweed facial and seemed in bliss as he rolled around on the surface enjoying the sensation of the seaweed against his skin. On our final tour for the day we sighted two young male Humpbacks practicing breaching, tail slapping and peduncle slapping for 90 minutes straight!

From sunrise to sunset we enjoyed the beauty of Flinders Bay and the magnificent Humpback Whales that spend a few moments of their busy lives visiting this part of the world. To watch such incredible behaviours as these whales communicate to each other across the bay is a true privilege and we can happily say The Language of the Whales is our favourite language to learn and watch!

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Today we celebrated WA Day 2017 and the whales did too! We had interactions with 20 Humpback whales and two competition pods with males pushing and jostling to try and see who was the strongest. Our afternoon tour ended with a big bang as two resting yearlings awoke with breaching and head lunging just off our bow which had everyone celebrating.

These two active yearlings had been sighted on the morning tour interacting with one of the competition pods for a brief amount of time before deciding the other males were a bit too competitive. They must have worn themselves out as they were making sure to catch up on some rest on this picture perfect WA Day.

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The Language of the Whales™ was very loud today out in Flinders Bay as four separate pods of Humpback Whales communicated to each other with some spectacular surface behaviour sighted. One pod of two young whales were breaching, peduncle slapping, head lunging, inverted tail slapping and pec slapping just off our bow for almost one hour straight! The need to practice different behaviours is very important for these young whales and what a privilege to have front row seats to this outstanding display.

Out of the two whales the white bellied juvenile had a story to tell, if you look closely you will see that this little whale is a survivor of an Orca attack! The unmistakable “rake” marks from the Orca have healed over time and you can clearly see where the Orca held onto the fluke of this Humpback who managed to escape and is now sighted today in Augusta healthy and practicing the behaviours he will need to use throughout the rest of his life, it makes one very happy.

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Flinders Bay was filled with Humpback yearlings this morning and we sighted three of these yearlings who were still with their mum. One pod displayed some amazing surface behaviour with the yearling breaching while mum rolled onto her back and showed everyone onboard what an inverted tail slap looks like… rather impressive!

While we were with the same mother and yearling a pod of Common Dolphins decided to come over and say hello to the Humpback Whales which is very special to see, it does happen a lot but for human eyes it is all about being in the right place at the right time! After a quick interaction the Dolphins continued moving towards a large bait ball that had caught the attention of many birds including diving Australasian Gannets, Crested Terns, Seagulls and Antarctic Skua.

The beginning of Season 2017 has been amazing and this morning we were blown away when our first sighting was of a Southern Right Whale. We normally see Southern Rights arriving in Flinders Bay in mid July so to see this beautiful whale this morning was a true pleasure and wonderful surprise! Only a few hundred meters away from the Southern Right Whale were two very surface active Humpbacks who were communicating to another pod with breaching, head lunging, and pec rolls.

Our afternoon tour was also very busy in the bay as three separate pods of Humpbacks slowly moved towards the reef line as they prepared to continue their northern migration to warm tropical breeding grounds. A young yearling was also sighted keeping a very low profile as he was on his own having most likely recently left his mum and starting his own journey into the very busy life of a Humpback Whale!

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