Fremantle Humpback Whale nursery grounds were filled with playful mums and their calves today along with our wonderful local Bottlenose Dolphins coming over to say g’day. It was set to be a beautiful day with light winds and it made us smile to see so many mums and bubs having settled in to the Fremantle Humpback Whale nursery grounds. It is important for these pods to rest but amongst all that resting they do have opportunities to play and socialise if their mums allow. During our morning tour there was plenty of shuffling amongst the whales as they mingled and rested with one of the mums rolling over into some powerful pec slaps to call in the other pods if they wanted to socialise. The local Bottlenose Dolphins had found another pod to socialise with as the calf was so excited for the opportunity with cheeky tail lobs and trumpets with the dolphins as playtime unfolded.
The midday tour was a similar theme amongst the pods as they all relaxed together and one mum was very interesting in her behaviour. She would surface with her calf and then rollover below the surface and settle in to drift mode. It’s almost as though she was suntanning below the surface with her enormous white belly aglow and turquoise hue spotted even when further away. All the Humpback Whales we meet will have a unique personality and traits, and this mum certainly likes to drift upside down below the surface while keeping an eye on her calf and resting. She can offer her belly as a safe location for her calf to rest on or if she wants can prevent the calf from feeding this way as well if they are being a little milk greedy! The dolphins were back in the area again this afternoon and we completed our time with the whales with a final couple of pods who had launched into some breaching and pec slapping as they started to get ready to resume the southbound journey.
