Tag: Wobbles The Whales

Our darling baby Humpback Leeuwi was sighted today on both our morning and afternoon tours and is certainly enjoying becoming King of Flinders Bay! Most of the big boisterous Humpbacks have moved past Augusta and have reached the breeding/calving grounds found in the Kimberley’s. We still have a few Humpbacks in the bay who are enjoying some beautiful weather and with fewer big male Humpbacks around this leaves Leeuwi very much in charge of Flinders Bay…but of course he still listens to mum.

Very interestingly on this mornings tour Leeuwi’s mum did not have a male escort with her but when we met them again this afternoon a new adult Humpback was now with Leeuwi and his mum. This new male will be waiting for a chance to mate with mum so usually won’t be hanging around for very long before he continues on his way, so we will wait to see if he is still around next time we sight Leeuwi. Such a special moment also this afternoon when mum and Leeuwi went for a big full circle around our vessel only a few meters away which gave us a wonderful view of our precious Leeuwi.

Our Southern Right Whale mums are really enjoying this beautiful weather and one of the calves sighted today was looking very big and healthy. A fantastic sign for our visiting Southern Right population here in Flinders bay with so many happy and healthy calves around. Plenty of birdlife about today as well with a few Antarctic Skuas flying close to our bow and hoping for a morsel of food!

ID Log
Date – 5.8.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 32 Long – 115 . 15. 27
Notes – New male escort of Leeuwi and mum (joined mother/calf pod today)

The beautiful experiences you have watching a mother teaching her calf never cease to amaze us. Today Mother Of Pearl was repeatedly lifting her massive tail fluke out of the water and encouraging little Pearl to do the same. After a few close attempts Pearl managed it on the third go and lifted her fluke (only just!) above the waters surface… Yay!

Having perfect control over her fluke and peduncle muscles is vitally important as she continues to grow into a young whale, but like all babies it will take some practice.

Our Humpbacks also decided today was a good day to get those flukes out of the water and feeling the breeze. Two big Humpbacks moved towards our vessel to check everything and everyone out before continuing on their way. Further away another Humpback pod were not so happy about these two big whales approaching so decided a good show of fluke slapping should deter them from approaching and it certainly did work, the magic of The Language of The Whales!

Lately our gorgeous Bottlenose Dolphin family pod have been spending their mornings and evenings fishing in the Augusta Boat Harbour. They must be having  a bit of success hunting this way as they are repeatedly visiting each day much to our excitement! On our arrival back at the marina we had to stop and say a quick hello to our new friends as we waited for them to clear a path for our return back to the pen, Dolphins really are so much fun!

ID Log
Date – 4.8.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 92 Long – 115 . 13 . 45
Notes –  Male in escort pod, light scarring

Wow! Today we had to “babysit” Pearl the White Southern Right whale calf while her mother (named Mother Of Pearl) decided she was going to have a bit of fun by breaching and head lunging, absolutely incredible! She is a very big mumma whale as the photos show and if you look very carefully in the bottom right corner you will see little Pearl watching her mum the very first time she breached. Very quickly four more breaches and a head lunge followed as she moved further away from Pearl who stayed close to our vessel waiting for her amazing mummy to return.

Such a special experience to see such a large Southern Right Whale breach but what makes today really special is that this is the famous Mother Of Pearl and we think if little Pearl continues to carefully watch and learn from her mum she will grow up to be a Southern Right Whale with an incredible breaching technique because mums was perfect! As Mother Of Pearl knows our vessel now she is showing signs of trust and was so relaxed with us today she gently showed her precious Pearl to us by moving towards us and across our bow, you can see little Pearl curiously checking everyone out on the bow while mum protectively moves just underneath her, what an incredibly special moment!

ID Log
Date – 3.8.16
Species – Southern Right
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed (Nursery Status)
Notes – Mother and calf pod

Baby whales everywhere! Such a special day today as we re-sighted our beloved Pearl the White Southern Right Whale Calf and on our afternoon tour we met our darling Leeuwi the baby Humpback and his mum who were enjoying a beautiful day out on Flinders Bay. This is a very rare and special experience to see not only a White Southern Right Whale calf but also a baby Humpback on the same day in Flinders Bay, very exciting! Both Leeuwi and Pearl are looking healthy and strong with Pearl having grown considerably since we last met her only a few day ago and Leeuwi moving very well next to his mum.

We also met another baby Southern Right calf and his mum not too far away from Pearl who were nice and close to the shoreline and having a bit of a rest in the warm sunshine. A very large Humpback whale on his own also cruised past the Southern Right nursery today looking like he was very much on a mission to find another Humpback to introduce himself to.

ID Log
Date – 2.8.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 19. 86 Long – 115 . 16 . 51
Notes – Individual whale moving quickly

This afternoon we had two big Humpbacks putting on a big show of breaching, head lunging and even double pec slapping… all synchronized! Perfectly timed it was beautiful to watch as these two whales called in the attention of a few other Humpbacks in the area. We also re-sighted baby Leeuwi this morning which was a huge relief after the very sad news of a baby Humpback in distress at Left Handers beach.

A lot of movement in our bay today as many of the Humpbacks who had been sheltering in Flinders Bay during the last two days of rough weather started to begin their migration north once again. We had three very competitive Humpbacks race past our bow this morning chasing each other with a lot of speed and power! Our friendly Bottlenose Dolphins also enjoyed greeting us on our arrival back at the marina today and even started hunting for an afternoon snack inside the marina much to our delight.

ID Log
Date – 1.8.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 22. 42 Long – 115 . 11 . 56
Notes – Fluke showing signs of past Orca attack, chunk missing from right sid

Sometimes in life you get the opportunity to see something extraordinarily beautiful… today was certainly one of those days. This morning we met the most gorgeous white Southern Right Whale calf and her mother and everyone on board was beyond excited, we were ecstatic! To see a baby white whale is something you will remember for the rest of your life as it is incredibly rare and such a very special moment.

As this was the first time we have met mother and calf we were very careful and patient with our approach so she could see we were no threat to her precious bub. She was very relaxed and as we stopped to watch she gently approached us. She allowed her baby to to be on her right side which was closest to us showing she was completely relaxed and trusting. We sat like this for the next 30 minutes and enjoyed every millisecond!

The research team from the Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit sighted the white calf and her mother a few days ago and were able to tag mum. We were very excited to hear this news and hopefully they will be able to recover some very useful data from mumma whale. The little white calf will now stay with mum in the protected Southern Right Whale nursery found in Flinders Bay and continue to grow until both mother and calf are ready to return to their feeding grounds.

Unlike Migaloo the white Humpback whale who is world famous and found on the East Coast, our little whale in Flinders Bay will eventually change her colours. Her white skin will grow to a darker grey and eventually she should be mostly black, however with so few of Southern Right Whale births resulting in white calves we still have a lot to learn about these changes in skin colour/pattern. This is a very exciting time to be Whale Watching in Augusta and we hope our beautiful white baby continues to grow big and strong, we have certainly already fallen in love with her and hope to keep you all updated on her progress!

ID Log
Date – 29.7.16
Species – Southern Right
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed (Nursery Status)
Notes – White patch on fluke and back, looked to be individual whale with no calf

Today is Leeuwi our baby Humpback’s first month birthday! As we left the marina we soon sighted off in the distance little Leeuwi and his mum who started to move straight towards us. One month ago on the 28th of June we sighted Leeuwi who was only a few hours old and since then have had the joy of watching him reach his first month of life. After coming over to say hello Leeuwi then decided to celebrate his first month birthday with us by breaching!!!!

What a wonderful moment it was to see him breaching and this is a fantastic sign that he is feeling strong and has plenty of energy to practice these Humpback behaviours. He even practiced a couple of head lunges and when he and his mum swam only a few meters behind our vessel you could clearly hear the rhythm and strength in his breathing which is absolutely brilliant, Leeuwi is looking stronger than ever before!

Such a special day as later on in the tour we met a Southern Right mother and calf who were enjoying the attention they were receiving from the Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit who have started studying them over the last few days. Both mother and calf played around on the surface with the mother rolling onto her back at one point and “holding” her baby in a very human like hug!

ID Log
Date – 28.7.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 26. 62 Long – 115 . 11 . 40
Notes – Mother of Leeuwi, right flank 3 white dots

A brilliant day on Flinders Bay today with a very special encounter with a very happy baby Southern Right whale who decided to show off his moves. After spending some quite time with the mother/calf pod the little one decided to show everyone on board how much he has learnt over the last few weeks with some very cute baby breaching and even a few tries at tail slapping… absolutely adorable!

Later on mum decided to show us just how coordinated our Southern Right whales become through a lot of practice by carefully rolling onto her back and balancing for a while which gave us the most fantastic view of her very large pectoral fins and that wonderful white splash of white on her belly. Both mother and calf were completely relaxed and it was very peaceful to sit and watch these magnificent creatures play and learn in our Southern Right Nursery grounds.

A few large Humpbacks were also enjoying the calm conditions today with two very large individuals surfacing only a few metres away checking us out before continuing on their journey north. Dolphin pods were also busy feeding in the bay with a large pod of 15 individuals coming over to say a quick hello.

ID Log
Date – 27.7.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 22. 064 Long – 115 . 13 . 202
Notes – Unique double “bump” on dorsal fin edge

Our Humpback whales have been enjoying spending some time close to the Flinders Bay coastline and resting before continuing their migration north. We have sighted many pods of two whales (male/female Humpback) and a few competition pods as well. After already travelling roughly 2,000 nautical miles from Antartica it is very easy to see why some of our Humpbacks need a bit of relax time in Flinders Bay before continuing north!

Also sighted were a pod of both Bottlenose Dolphins and Common Dolphins over the last two days hunting baitfish alongside Australasian Gannets, Crested Terns and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross enjoying a good feed too.

ID Log
Date – 26.7.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 40 Long – 115 . 11 . 89
Notes – Young juvenile Humpback with many barnacles on rostrum

Little Leeuwi the baby Humpback who was born on the 28th of June and his mum have provided us with some incredible moments for our season so far in Augusta, but today she decided it was time to show off her baby Leeuwi! After spending a few minutes with this pod we quickly recognised Leeuwi who is now as dark as his mum which is great news as this is a normal transition for young calves as they get a bit older.

As we watched mother and calf everyone suddenly became very excited when mum decided to come over and show off her precious baby. Little Leeuwi slowly moved towards us with mum just underneath him and they both had a good look at everyone on the bow! These sort of interactions you just don’t see here in Flinders Bay as our baby Humpbacks are born further north, but of course Leeuwi is a very special little whale❤

A pod of two older whales moved towards us and once again mum and Leeuwi stayed close to us before deciding that the other pod was not a threat to them and continued on their way. What an incredibly special moment to have a mother Humpback bring her very vulnerable baby and show him to us, this takes an enormous amount of trust from the female and we felt very privileged to have become close friends with this extraordinary Humpback family!

ID Log
Date – 24.7.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 03 Long – 115 . 12 . 19
Notes – Left side of mothers dorsal fin

Leaving the marina this morning we did not expect to be a part of a once in a lifetime tour. We noticed a pod about 200 meters away and as we stopped our vessel to determine what type of pod and where they were moving suddenly all whales turned directly towards our vessel and started moving straight towards us! Already very excited by the approaching pod we were completely blown away when little Leeuwi surfaced in front of our bow!

We met Leeuwi the baby Humpback and his mum all the way back on June 28th and have seen him six times since then. Today his mum had caught the attention of two young male Humpbacks who were trying to get close to her and possibly mate. These types of interactions are usually sighted in the calving grounds further north but because Leeuwi has been born so far south this amazing situation unfolded today in Flinders Bay which was truly a once in a lifetime experience!

The two new males chased the female and we could see them swimming side on and even underneath the female at times with the original escort male trying his best to protect the female and Leeuwi. We certainly felt today that the female was using our vessel to try and separate the males from herself and protect Leeuwi who was trying his best to keep close to mum. Thankfully the two younger males eventually left the female and Leeuwi, mum and the original male escort kept close together and enjoyed a bit of courtship behaviour as they moved to shallower water.

An incredible experience today that we were very fortunate to be a part of and we have absolutely fallen in love with our little Leeuwi who passed by our bow today only five meters away and we had the best view of him we have seen so far and he is still so tiny but a true little warrior❤

ID Log
Date – 17.7.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – 34 . 21. 68 Long – 115 . 12 . 69
Notes – Male escort of Humpback mother/calf, unique hooked dorsal fin