A Humpback bachelor pod is a unique experience to be involved with and this afternoon we hung out with the boys as five males surrounded us curiously. Our morning firstly began with the company of Bottlenose Dolphins who surrounded us and took five minutes to socialise from their busy morning of feeding as the youngest of the pod porpoised out of the water in excitement. Shortly afterwards the most beautiful jet black male Humpback began putting on an exciting display of The Language of the Whales. He launched into powerful tail lobs before rolling over for some inverted tail slapping. The fluke lifted powerfully above the waters surface before slamming back down again sending white water flying. It was exhilarating to watch as the tail slapping continued, Albatross soared past the bow and three other pods moved around us as they listened in to this active Humpback. He left the very best to last as a big round out dive indicated a possible breach so we all held our breath. Moments later he launched, up and away he went as gravity took over and his body swivelled and rolled as he landed with an almighty belly splash!
A sleepy yearling was our first meeting in the afternoon and he was tiny compared to the older whales we had met earlier in the day. A rumble in the middle of the bay had begun and we gently wished our little yearling sweet dreams as he continued sleeping and we made our way towards a competition pod that was forming. Arriving amongst a wash of white water and fast moving Humpbacks we could see a total of seven whales surging after each other and the female leading the way. The largest of the males was an enormous and beautiful white bellied individual who was covered in fresh, ruby red scars and scratches. It didn’t take long for him to push all the others away and swim off with his girl which left us and the remaining five males twiddling our thumbs! Oh well, maybe next time for the remaining five males who continued to spend the next hour with us just hanging out, swimming underneath our bow and performing perfect triple synchronised tail dives. A special experience underneath the numerous rainbows throughout today and a unique time joining the Humpback bachelor pod and enjoying their wonderful company.
