The fluke of a Humpback Whale is their fingerprint and every fluke speaks a thousand words about the story of every whale we are privileged to meet. Scarring, algae and even previous entanglement injuries can all be seen on the fluke of a whale and explains to us what has happened in their lives, both past and present. Our journey today was filled with many different pods including mothers and calves, adult escort pods and even a group of five young adults socialising together. A very different migration pattern is being experienced this season compared to last as the typical flow of juveniles, pregnant females, adults and mother/calf pods on the southern migration is now slightly jumbled with a large mix of different age groups being sited on each of our tours.
The first mother, calf and escort pod were keeping a watchful hear open to everything that was happening around them with a few protective tail lobs to keep their personal space clear. The calf quickly followed the lead of the escort male as he pivoted his head down and threw his small fluke skywards. Two large adults were cruising in shallow water while a mother and her large calf quickly raced towards us and then alongside to avoid the adults from getting too close as they travelled past. The clouds cleared and as we approached our fourth pod we could see the local Bottlenose Dolphins interacting with them. All five adults and 10+ Dolphins twisted and turned together while enjoying their social interaction. Approaching our bow for a closer look it wasn’t long before we were accepted into the pod and enjoyed watching them gracefully play. One individual lifted his fluke vertically above the surface in a tail sailing behaviour, but instead of trying to cool down this young whale was simply having some fun in the sun with his buddies and showing off his headstand!
