One of the finest moments when whale watching, a mother and calf both breaching the surface at the same time! It was a very busy morning with mothers and calves all around and being very social mammals we could see plenty of talking going on amongst the pods. We had sighted a pod further away who were very surface active and as we approached all of a sudden this mother and calf pod came to life with mum head lunging and baby breaching both at the exact same time. The timing was perfect and they both continued a few more head lunges and breaching towards the other pod before continuing on their way.
Another mother and calf pod were spending their morning having some fun with a pod of 15-20 Bottlenose Dolphins and sightings of these interactions are very special. The dolphins were leading the way as the young calf and her mum twisted and turned right behind them. We think the young calf chased a little too fast as all 20 dolphins shuffled quickly at the surface as if someone had said “boo”… maybe a bit too close by the calf! The fantastic surface activity we see as pods communicate to each other is amazing to watch but also very educational as we watch the separate pods communicating and interacting with each other even over great distances. A big thank you to young Andrew for bringing the Steep Point back to the marina safely and you are the best 7 year old captain we have met!
ID Log
Date – 24.10.16
Species – Humpback
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed
Notes – Mother of calf and she was very heavily scarred along flanks