October whale watching is a time to meet many new Humpback babies and also see the last of the bachelor males making their way south in the final weeks of the annual Humpback Whale migration. A very relaxed mum, calf and escort surfaced together as they enjoyed the peaceful weather this morning. The little one was playful and wiggling about at the surface while trying to collect seaweed along the way. The reason for the relaxed and low profile was a commotion brewing not far away as a total of nine Humpback Whales merged together. It was amazing to watch as the female began to pec slap away to flirt with the boys and encourage their attention and it was certainly working! The boys gathered around the female with much boisterous trumpeting, bubble veils and chin slaps to be dominant towards each other and try to impress the female. A beautiful spectacle to be part of as they competed closely around our vessel and a great example of the importance of these competition pods and the resulting comes that come about next year.
It was also great to see an Orca attack survivor in the mix as this big male had survived a rather serious encounter with their apex predators much earlier on in life and had the scars to tell a bit about his survival tale. Our midday tour was yet more spectacular weather as the turquoise sea highlights the dark beauty of the Humpbacks Whales as they bark the waters surface. Mum and calf were our first sighting as they rested quietly with baby playing with seaweed just above mum with gentle rolls and turns at the surface to minimise any noise. Nearby we joined with a pod of six adult males whom we recognised from earlier this morning, they were the unfortunate males who did not win the female from this morning bus instead decided to continue hanging out together. It is always an impressive sight to see these males travelling as one with great energy amongst them still, a few bubbles veils and wheezy trumpets remained. Our final pod for this afternoon was a mother whale who tried to attract the boys with some pec slapping but not for long, she seemed to realised they were now more interested in migrating than competing after an exhausting morning of competition. She made the decision to come over and join us instead and introduce her beautiful little calf to us, how special it was!
