World of a Humpback Whale is fascinating and today we were witness to playful calves and intense competition pods reflecting how each tour is incredibly unique and special. The morning was a beautiful one with a big blue sky and light winds along with mum and calf pods everywhere. School was in with pec slapping and breaching being practiced as multiple pods converged socially together. An approaching pod of bachelor males caused the mums to disperse but the boys were tired and just looking for somewhere to rest quietly with one male showing old entanglement injuries. Thankfully they appeared to have healed well and were inflicted a long time ago, we are grateful he survived and is alive and well now to continue completing each annual migration. A further couple of mums continued mingling as they allowed their babies to play with plenty of tail lobs and tail slaps being practiced.
Our midday tour had a very similar theme as the calves were socialising together with breaching from one calf being combated with tail lobs from the other. It is always amusing to watch the little conversations these babies have together as they practice and play with much enthusiasm and excitement. The same male we have observed over the last couple of days who has the missing dorsal fin then arrived on scene and caused some excitement amongst the mother whales who began to trumpet as they all moved together. Further ahead a commotion was brewing as an intense competition pod had formed with white water flying as they charged across the sighting grounds. Eventually the female had made her choice of which male she wanted and launched into incredibly powerful tail lobs and a couple of enormous head lunges to get her point across. The world of a Humpback Whale never ceases to amaze us and everyday witnessing these incredible giants we continue to learn more about their remarkable lives and epic migrations.
