Language of the Humpback Whales was on spectacular display today as all three tours were jam packed with surface language and picture perfect winter weather. The morning and midday tour was all about the competition pods as on both tours we enjoyed a high octane display of bachelor males surging after a female who led them on a chase through Flinders Bay. It was brilliant to watch the strength of these males as they would ram into each other while others dived upwards to get out of the impact zone which showed off their enormous rostrum. White water was flying and it was a thrill to be so close to the boys as each exhalation erupted into noisy trumpeting as they expressed their frustration as challenger males arrived to join the competition and cause more commotion. It was fantastic to watch and a highlight of our midday tour was the explosion of breaching which erupted once the competition pod dispersed with the primary male escort maintaining his winning position.
A total of four seperate pods then began breach and pec slap as the next wave of females aimed to capture the attention of the males. One female in particular was incredible as her enormous size was noticeable with five meter long pectoral fins crashing down in big pec slaps before superb breaching completed the conversation. The late afternoon sunset tour was very special as the momentum had shifted from competitive to social as a pod of three young bachelor males were hanging out together. Pec slapping was the theme of the social even as all three swam alongside each other pec slapping away in an attempt to encourage further Humpback Whales to approach and join with them. Almost an hour of pec slapping non stop as each individual took his turn to pec slap as the other rested before the resumed again all together, maybe these boys wanted to be drummers! It was brilliant to watch in the late afternoon sunshine as they ventured over for a closer look at everyone onboard which completed a very wonderful day out watching the incredible Language of the Humpback Whales in Augusta.
