Breaching Humpback calves and boisterous adults were observed today as multiple pods made their way through the sighting grounds. As we slowly left the sightings of the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour, it didn’t take long before we saw splashing in the distance. A mother and her calf were gently cruising around on this beautiful sunny morning, letting us Join The Pod with gentle surfacing alongside the boat. Another juvenile who was resting a little bit further out, surprised us with a series of spectacular breaches. This rather interesting behaviour might have been caused from the youngster getting a fright and not realising just how close they were to the nearby mother and her calf approaching the area. As we went further out we encountered multiple different mum’s with calves, one being escorted by a large male Humpback.
It is not to say this male is the father as whales are polygamous which means they do not mate for life so the chances of this male Humpback being the father is very low but the males will escort the female down the coast for the chance of a mating opportunity. While we waited for another resurfacing we received a message over the radio that there has been a sighting of a huge Great White Shark around the area, which can explain why our pods this morning were all rather close together seeking protection and using the Language of the Whales to communicate and warn other whales in the area. As we departed back to the harbour, our little Humpback calf entertained us with some beautiful breaching as we said goodbye to them and wished this lovely pod the safest of journeys ahead.
Throughout our afternoon tour we observed lots of activity as we arrived to the sighting grounds. Greeted on our arrival by pec and tail slapping. Very enthusiastic whales communicating with the surrounding whales as we counted over thirty Humpbacks in the area. Our three males were competing for a female close by, and after a long competition the female decided she would allow all the males to travel with her. She could’ve remained with just the primary escort male, however, she started to become flirty with them all with pec slaps which makes us believe she was rather enjoying the males attention. After a busy and entertaining time with these many pods we wished them all well, cruising back to Fremantle after a beautiful day out on the water.
