Perth Humpback Season 2025 begins as we were thrilled to meet some of the first pods moving south and enjoying relax time in the waters off Fremantle. It is always such an exciting time of the year, a thrill to see the largest Humpback Whale migration make its journey past our coastline and today was only the beginning for our southbound migration season. Our morning was spent with two young whales who were gently cruising towards Rottnest Island with one individual rather outgoing. A big breach, tail lobs and a few cheeky half hearted pec slaps. A lovely individual who appeared just off our bow and stern on a few occasions as they came in for a closer look. One of the individuals had a slight entanglement around the fluke as two small floats were observed.
It was minimal and not affecting the movement of this particular whale but we have still reported the sighting in hopes that should this whale be re-sighted a closer look by the rescue team can be undertaken. It can be difficult with these types of entanglements as they do not adversely affect the movement of the whale to a point that slows them down, making it extremely challenging for the rescue team to track and get close to such individuals. Even during the couple of hours we were with this pod they had already covered a few mile and were almost near the exit area of the resting grounds, soon they would be on their way south again. Our team will be out again tomorrow and monitor for this whale, due to the age of the floats and line we are hopeful this whale will eventually disentangle itself through plenty of swimming, surface activity and interaction with others.
The midday tour was a different tempo again with further restful juvenile Humpback Whale and a very hungry Australia Sea Lion munching away on an unfortunate Wobbegong Shark. Watching the Sea Lion feed was very special as the enthusiastic thrashing at the surface helped to break apart the meal into smaller bite size pieces as this youngster enjoyed every mouthful. A little later a pod of eight appeared and it was an interesting interaction with moments of intense competition and other moments of domination social interaction as the bachelor boys showed off with so much loud trumpeting. Echoing through the still conditions, we could clearly hear each powerful exhalation which has been recorded at between three hundred to six hundred kilometres per hour. A wonderful way to start the Perth Humpback Season for 2025 and we cannot wait for the many fun filled days ahead with our Pod Members and wonderful whales!
