August Whale Watch Experience from Fremantle sights both the northern migration and transition to the southern migration with the change of season. It was a lovely day with the whales as enormous bachelor males were cruising curiously this morning and a cheeky yearling was busy chasing sardines this afternoon. Multiple pods this morning were meandering past Rottnest Island and it was interesting to see that they were all mostly bachelor males. One pod in particular was rather impressive as three big males were cruising together in a bachelor pod and were rather relaxed. One male in particular was cheeky with a couple of flirty pec slaps as they were soaking in some relax time during their stay in the waters off Rottnest Island.
Our midday tour was a nice surprise as a beautiful yearling surfaced, we haven’t observed a yearling in a few days. The youngster was curious and ventured over to us a few times to investigate and have a closer look. The real distraction for this young Humpback Whale however was the immense amount of sardines in the area. Gannets were diving left, right and centre as the yearling Humpback seemed to be trying to heard up the tiny fish but is was difficult being a lone whale trying to control so many tiny moving fish. It has been a very interesting season so far observing the behaviour of these yearlings during the winter months as they appear to be opportunistically foraging. Although the adults will not feed it is an eye opener to witness these young whales attempting to forage in the waters off Fremantle.
