Today we met the Southern Heart of the Southern Ocean as a young juvenile Southern Right Whale stopped us in our tracks as she swam circles around and under our vessel. The young ladies onboard were given the big responsibility of naming this special whale and their name that was decided on is the most perfect name… Southern Heart. She was incredibly friendly as she looked up at everyone and what a special moment it was to be so close to an endangered Southern Right Whale in the Southern Ocean. Our afternoon was also joined by two young male Humpbacks who decided not to follow the competition pod as it moved past and instead stayed with our vessel for an hour of people watching as they swam around us in circles, keeping a close eye on everyone onboard and we were completely smitten with these magnificent Humpbacks as they swam so close we could see the little orange whale lice right on the tip of ones dorsal fin!
Our morning experience began with completely relaxed Humpbacks who were snoozing in the peaceful morning conditions as a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins came over to say hello. Joining with the beginning of a competition pod forming, we were surrounded by boisterous males who charged towards and around our vessel as they chased the female with high energy. Yet another competition pod was sighted and this time it was when a large male joining that electricity seemed to fill the remaining five whales who made an enormous change of direction and moved directly at our bow like torpedoes. Continuing to race throughout Flinders Bay we made our way towards a much calmer area, the Southern Right Whale nursery ground. The calm and peaceful surrounding were only disturbed by the curious spy hop and pectoral slaps of Southern Heart who had joined up with Stacka and his mum in the shallows, how magnificent to sight both species in one day!
The vessel Emily Taylor arrived in Flinders Bay on the 2nd of May 1830 and as we looked out across the mist covered bay this morning we wondered of the thoughts that these first settlers had when they came ashore to what we now know as the beautiful Augusta. Certainly, we don’t think they would have realised during those early days what would become of Augusta with the latest addition a brand new boat harbour that would have been a perfect place for the Emily Taylor and hundreds upon hundreds of whales continuing to visit this lovely part of the world.
Our morning began once the mist and cleared with competition pods racing through the bay, peaceful Humpbacks resting in the shallows along with Stacka and his mum who seemed to be enjoying the perfectly calm conditions. A pod of two Humpbacks enjoyed a social interaction with the local Bottlenose Dolphins and all approached to investigate our bow. The tall blows on the horizon could be seen as yet another completion pod charged through the bay and alongside our vessel as we watched 14 Humpbacks race through glassy conditions as another pod breached ahead of them to deter their approach. A last pod on our journey back to the boat harbour ever so slowly swan around our vessel as they peacefully investigated us only meters away.
The afternoon conditions were just as beautiful as the energy in Augusta increased and competition pods could be sighted right throughout the bay. The first comp pod raced towards our vessel as the female tried to keep the males being her and circled around our bow. The males moved so close to the vessel we could feel the energy of this powerful pod of eight whales as they exhaled between 300-600 kilometres per hour. The energy then shifted as we joined a second pod with one of the male launching his entire body into the sky as we watched the most enormous head lunge. The female followed with breaching and pec slapping to encourage the following males as we watched in awe as fully grown, 40 tonne Humpbacks launched themselves into the sky. The journey home was complete with a final competition pod and it can still be hard to fathom how these whale achieve so much without feeding during their epic migration and Augusta is just the beginning of their journey!
The Humpbacks enjoyed Summer in July as we sighted numerous competition pods throughout both our morning and afternoon experience in the glorious weather. Our first pod of the morning was of four Humpbacks who were socialising and playing in seaweed as we noticed one of the individuals covered in old injuries. A completely missing dorsal fin and tail fluke with rounded edges all showed signs of rake marks left behind from a previous Orca attack, this beautiful whale was a survivor! Another incredible interaction this morning as an Australian Sea-Lion was leading a pod of 10+ Bottlenose Dolphins and two enormous Humpback Whales directly towards us and we watched in great amusement as this super pod of three different species swam directly towards our bow to check everyone out. A powerful caption pod of 14 individuals raced through the bay and our perfect morning was completed with a quick hello to Stacka and mum, the Southern Right Calf who was born in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The afternoon weather was just as perfect with calm sea and sunny sky leading us towards our first competition pod of seven who were charging close to the abalone farm. The males were deliberately using the floats as obstacles to push each other towards and soon the female was racing towards us for assistance! She was slightly smaller than some of the other females we have sighted over the last few days and seemed to struggle slightly with keeping the males behind her as the primary escort was pushed aside and the remaining males desperately tried to move up the competition line. They raced towards, around and underneath us as other males joined and eventually we did have a winner who came escorted the female away.
The tail lob of a cheeky young Humpback could be seen as he communicated towards a pod of three adults sitting right next to our bow observing everyone above. We let them continue their journey as we joined up with this lovely young whale who tail lobbed and bubble veiled alongside us as he communicated his dominance and seemed to enjoy socialising with us as he swam towards our bow and waited for us to tail slap back. The peaceful afternoon was a perfect nursery ground for Stacka and as we sighted mother and calf the baby Southern Right breached high above the surface to have a cheeky look at us… how quickly they Learn the Language of the Whales™!
The sun was out and another beautiful morning in Augusta greeted us as we made our way out into Flinders Bay. A pod of two Humpbacks were moving peacefully across the bay and we noticed with interest that they swam alongside each other belly to belly for a short time. The exhalation of a young Humpback caught our attention and we all gasped in awe as he launched his entire body above the waters surface in a full bodied breach. Three more breaches followed and they were spectacular to watch only meters in front of the bow. A small movement on the surface from our next pod seemed strange, perhaps we had sighted Bottlenose Dolphins travelling with the group of two adults. Again it surfaced and this time we had a very good view… it was a baby Humpback Whale! The very first calf for season 2018 and although surprising, we did have four calves born in Flinders Bay last year and we will continue to monitor the bay for this little one. We stayed for a short time to collect photo identification of mum, male escort and calf who all swam directly past our bow looking for our sound footprint as a smaller dinghy approached nearby.
Our afternoon was again filled with further surprises as a friendly juvenile Humpback took a few moments to investigate us before we moved towards gentle movement just ahead. Two adult Southern Right Whales were dancing together at the surface of Flinders Bay and we watched the gentle courtship of these two whales. Pectoral slapping from the female to encourage the attention of the male as they twirled in circles and at one point both of their pectoral fins were touching together, almost as if they were holding hands! A privilege to be so close to these endangered Southern Right Whales and to observe their gentle courtship behaviour.
A few other female Humpbacks and their male escorts were cruising through the bay and we could see in the distance hazy blows moving at a steady pace. Approaching gently we could count between 7-10 individuals racing after a female with a few very large males in the mix. Looking carefully at the images you can see on one of the males where his tubercles (the bumps on his upper and lower jaw) have been rubbed raw from close contact with the other males. They look very painful, but are all part of the northern migration and a great example of the determination these males have to win the hearts of their females. A magnificent day to witness some spectacular behaviour, meet the first Humpback Whale calf for season 2018 and see the beautiful courtship of two Southern Right Whales, Augusta really is a special place!
Augusta is the best place to go whale watching in Australia during the winter time and today was a perfect example why. The word had spread in town that a Southern Right Whale had been sighted and as we made our way out of the Augusta Boat Harbour there she was! Only a few meters away from the harbour wall and frolicking in the shallows we were so very excited to see our first Southern Right Whale for season 2018. A superstar arrival like this in Flinders Bay does not go unnoticed and along the Augusta Boat Harbour wall we could see a crowd gathering to see this beautiful whale, we were all joining in the celebration to be seeing the first of many magnificent Right Whales to arrive.
Gently leaving our new Southern Right Whale friend to continue her afternoon of exploring we made our way out into Flinders Bay to discover our Humpback Whales. A few moments after turning around we could see the unmistakable arch of a Humpback Whales back break the surface and we introduced ourselves to the pods of two and three that were migrating through and preparing for the next step on their journey towards the northern breeding grounds. Distant blows on during the lovely afternoon caught our attention and as we made our approach a large female Humpback surfaced with two male escorts, one mature and very large male along with a slightly younger individual.
Encouraging their attention she twisted and rolled before making her way towards our vessel. We sat in awe as the gentle rain fell around three enormous Humpback Whales who were all showing a great interest towards us. The female was especially curious, coming up right alongside and sitting there looking back up at us. Having the opportunity to see two unique whale species on the same afternoon in sheltered, calm waters of Flinders Bay is one of many reasons why Augusta is the best place to go whale watching in Australia during the winter time!
The first Southern Right Whale sighting for season 2018 was excitedly spotted this afternoon and the arrival of these superstar whales had the whole town talking and a small crowd gathering at the Augusta Boat Harbour to see this beautiful whale and celebrate her arrival. She is the first of many who will begin to arrive over the next few weeks and find a perfect place in Flinders Bay to raise their newborn calves. We are so excited to meet this lovely female who was incredibly close to the Augusta Boat Harbour and was certainly investigating her surroundings.
The Augusta Boat Harbour was only completed a few years ago and has changed the landscape that the local visiting Southern Right Whales would know, however this female looks very pleased with the boat harbour and was enjoying her afternoon frolicking incredibly close. The natural sound created by swell crashing onto the rocks of the harbour will create a fantastically noisy environment which is perfect for her and soon to be born calf to disappear into the sound footprint of the Augusta Boat Harbour. We are looking forward to the next couple of months seeing further Southern Right Whale arrivals and are very excited to have met our first for season 2018, we have missed them very much over the last year!
The picturesque town of Augusta in Western Australia is a sanctuary and meeting place for two of the greatest whale species found in Australian waters, the Humpback and Southern Right Whales. The arrival of winter signals the beginning of an epic migration as the largest population of Humpbacks in the world leave Antarctica and begin their long migration to warmer waters to reach important calving grounds. Whale watching in Augusta begins in late May when the very first arrival of Humpbacks can be found in the sheltered waters of Flinders Bay, for many this is their very first opportunity to rest after 3,000 kilometres of open ocean travel from Antarctica!
The very first arrivals in Flinders Bay are the mothers and calves from the previous season. After a year of living together they are making their way north as mum teaches her final lesson of the northern migration to her yearling calf before they separate ways. The second wave of arrivals are the boisterous teenagers and young adults who are on the verge of being mature breeding age adults… but not quite there just yet! These younger whales are full of energy and focus their attention on learning from the older whales upon their arrival.
We can always tell when the mature age adults begin to visit as Augusta comes alive with the spectacular surface behaviour of competing males. The intense competition pods of up to twenty male Humpbacks chasing after and competing for access to a female is the most intense energy sighted during the epic Humpback migration. The females will rest in Flinders Bay and call in the males with pectoral fin slapping and it can take only minutes on some days for three or more males to come charging across the bay to meet her. These intense heat runs are most regularly sighted from June to July during the peak of the northern migration.
August is a special time of the year as the heavily pregnant female Humpbacks are the last to make the northern migration. They have spent every last moment possible feeding in Antarctica to prepare themselves for the trip ahead and perfectly time their due date with a safe arrival in the warm northern waters of Western Australia. Joining them in Flinders Bay is the magnificent Southern Right Whales who arrive heavily pregnant and begin making themselves at home as Augusta will be their nursery grounds until mid October. The nursery grounds for Southern Right Whales are vital to the recovery of this endangered species with just over 2,000 individuals believed to be in Australian waters.
The Augusta whale watching season is from late May through to the end of August with the peak of Humpback Whales sighted in June/July. The best time for Southern Right Whales is August as we see the arrival of many mums to be and brand new calves being born. We have highlighted some recommendations when planning your experience to make the most of your time whale watching in Augusta during the whale watching season.
We recommend allowing flexibility when planning your whale watch experience in Augusta to accommodate for any changes to departure due to weather.
Please prepare with motion sickness medication if you are susceptible or have not had experience on the ocean before. The Augusta Pharmacy has products available and please speak with their health care professional.
Augusta is a beautiful town and after your whale watch experience you will have plenty of time to include a visit to the local beaches, lighthouse and enjoy a meal or coffee at one of the local restaurants and cafes.
The Augusta Boat Harbour is located halfway between the township and Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. There is plenty of free parking and restrooms located at this state of the art facility.
Experiences depart daily with morning or afternoon options available. The best time of day to see whales is completely dependant on which whales are visiting Flinders Bay at that time! The behaviours that we sight can be seen at any time of the day and in different weather.
Dress warmly and if rain is forecast a poncho is recommended. Blankets and warm inside areas are available onboard Whale Watch Western Australia.
Today we watched for over one hour peduncle slap after peduncle slap just off of the Perth beaches and we lost count after the first thirty! Remarkably, we again sighted the female Southern Right Whale and her calf from Saturday who were still enjoying some relax time very close to the Humpback Whales before they started racing towards her… three young male Humpbacks were chasing a female and her calf and things were about to get very interesting.
As these young males approached mum she started to peduncle slap which is a very aggressive behaviour in the Language of the Whales. Picking up on this energy the Southern Right and her calf moved out of the area as the Humpback pod of five started barreling towards us with all five whales now peduncle slapping together. Very quickly after we joined with their pod the energy levels dropped to a more relaxed mood as mother started to encourage her calf to practice his peduncle slap and tail slapping. With all of this incredible surface activity it was only a matter of time before two other adult Humpbacks joined after hearing powerful repercussions of the peduncle of our Humpbacks on the oceans surface. We now had seven Humpbacks peduncle slapping and to say we were speechless is a big understatement.
Today we had some very special guests onboard and the whales seemed to know that their best human friends had come to meet them because for the very first time ever we sighted a female Southern Right Whale and her calf interacting with a female Humpback Whale and her calf just off Rottnest Island, we were completely blown away with surprise and excitement! This was an amazingly rare encounter to watch as these two different baleen whale species allowed their calves to approach each other and we could feel the curious energy coming from both the mothers and calves as they met for the very first time.
The Southern Right Whales were most curious as they followed the Humpbacks for most of the time before the female Humpback decided she would shuffle over to us for a bit of “back up” and then the roles were reversed as the Humpbacks decided to follow the Southern Rights. A truly incredible encounter and the day was made even more special by the local pod of Bottlenose Dolphins who raced over to say hello. Our special guests onboard today certainly have an ocean full of friends and we would like to thank you so much for joining us on this beautiful morning and introducing us to your ocean mates.
We have always thought our whales just know when someone special is onboard and today this certainly proved true as this female Southern Right Whale has a completely different calf to the previous Southern Right that has been sighted off Perth beaches. She must have been in hiding, just waiting until the beautiful Children and families from PMH were onboard so she could show them her little calf all covered in white splashes.
This will be a tour we will always remember and treasure, the Southern Right Whale population in Australian waters only 50 years ago was somewhere between 50-100 individuals and very little hope was held for the future of this population. Our family motto has always said, “While I have breathe, I hope” and today we met a beautiful Southern Right mother and her calf who showed us to always keep breathing and keep hoping.
We had an extraordinary moment today when we sighted a mother Southern Right Whale and her calf just off the Fremantle coast resting quietly! It is very rare and special to sight a Southern Right Whale this far north with her calf and she has been using this coastline over the last few weeks as her nursery ground. During her time here it is very important to remember to allow mother and calf plenty of room or we will chase them away from the area and deter the female from having another calf here ever again and this would be a terrible loss. Make sure to always maintain a minimum (and by law) 300 meters between yourself and mother/calf pods at all times and this way you will be able to watch the natural Language of the Whales which is always the most beautiful to observe.
We also met two Humpback Whales who enjoyed playing hide and seek in a whale kind of way today! Swimming right up to our vessel and having a good look before disappearing again, they seemed to enjoy surprising us each time they resurfaced close by. We ended this wonderful day with a fantastic workshop with Michelle Fleur at the Fremantle Work Shop who held the most amazing watercolour class and after being inspired by our new whale friends painting them was a wonderful way to remember this special day.
*Please note we have not advised the exact location of the Southern Right Whale mother and calf as we would like for them to rest calmly during their time along the busy coastline. Should you re-sight this special pod be sure to let us know so we can better understand and track their movements, mother and calf pods will often move away from busy areas if they are receiving too much attention. Keep an eye open next time you are along the Fremantle coastline and let us know what you see!
A wonderfully calm day to enjoy our last tour in Flinders Bay for Season 2017☀ Colourpatch and his mum Irwin were also enjoying the beautiful conditions and were having a long sleep in the morning sunshine. You can learn more about how whales sleep here and the behaviour is often referred to as “logging” which we sighted in both mother and calf. For the females it is vitally important to spend a lot of time resting so as to preserve their blubber stores, meanwhile her calf will enjoy many fun times during their stay in the nursery grounds of Augusta which is perfect training for a baby whale.
We had plenty of fun in the sun today as we met our local mother and calf Southern Right Whales once again and they were all looking very well! Little Colourpatch and Irwin were in their usual spot along the coast and today Colourpatch lifted his very big tail fluke right up and out of the water which gave us a beautiful view of his speckled tail, you can notice all of the beautiful white patterns that will help us to identify him in the future.
One of the younger calves had a lot of energy to burn and seemed to be showing off to all of the Augusta Primary School students onboard with his big breaches, head lunges and pec slapping. They will often have a big play after having a feed of mums milk and this little whale certainly seemed to enjoy wowing the crowd onboard with his brilliant surface activity. The local Bottlenose Dolphins were also busy this morning foraging for breakfast but made sure to race over to us for a quick hello and joy ride on the bow.
