Our morning started with a wonderful surprise as an enormous Blue Whale surfaced! It was fantastic to see this beautiful Blue cruising through the sighting grounds and on a mission to navigate through the sighting grounds and continue on the long swim south towards the Bonney Upwelling. Nearby we also observed two seperate pods of adult Humpback Whales who were on a similar, focused mission as they too were navigating towards Rottnest Island to continue on with the southern migration. It is always so special to see multiple species on the same tour and today we were thrilled to see both our Blue Whale and Humpback Whales enjoying the shelter these waters provide for a safe and enjoyable migration past this stretch of coastline.
Departing for our midday tour we were excited to see who we would find and to our great excitement an enormous blow erupted, it was another Blue Whale! Often when in migration mode the Blue Whales will follow other individuals for safety and that was exactly what had happened today as this Blue was a fair distance behind the first from this morning but following the same migration path. Travelling through only seven meters of waters meant the shadow of this Blue Whales enormous body never disappeared and each surfacing was also easy to spot. Watching this beautiful whale travel effortlessly through the sighting rounds was amazing and such a special opportunity. We also had the opportunity to meet a mother Humpback and her calf who were following close behind this Blue Whale as the Humpback calf played with floating seaweed along the way.
Our afternoon tour was all about the Humpback Whales as a big white bellied mother whale and her matching calf completed a few examples of the tail lob. It was great to see the baby take on the opportunity to perfect their tail lob form before racing over to some seaweed floating nearby. Opening his mouth wide, the calf swam along and collected the seaweed in his mouth and it was unclear if the little one ended up eating that seaweed or not, perhaps a quick taste test! The seaweed will not cause any harm to calf and was good practice for once the little ones arrives in Antarctica for the first time with mum and learns the process of feeding on krill. It was a superb day and wonderful opportunity to enjoy the company of two Blue Whales and many marvellous Humpback Whales as well.
