Augusta Whales were busy today as our morning tour was all about the flukes with the afternoons tempo intense as a mother with her yearling calf were pursued by bachelor males during a powerful competition pod. It was a cool breeze that ruffled the waters surface today as for the first time this winter we could really feel the refreshing chill. The colder it gets the more Augusta Whales arrive and fill Flinders Bay as the numbers continue to grow as we move further through the season. Our first pod this morning was two relaxed bachelor males who cruised through the bay as they found a small clump of seaweed to carry with them before coming over to check us out. Further pods continued to move in and with many escort and bachelor pods about they were fairly content.
A juvenile tail lobbed before coming over for a closer inspection and amongst the many whales we met this morning was the fantastic opportunity of collecting many fluke identification images with each graceful tail dive.The afternoon was a different tempo entirely as a black bellied female breached her way towards us and showed off her incredible acrobatic skills. She had the attention of another whale who approached but they took off together quickly as a large female a short distance away had attracted the attention of three bachelor males. She had an older ship strike indentation and scar on her back where the hull of a vessel has run straight over the top of her, most likely while she was asleep and logging at the surface. Thankfully it appears to have healed well and didn’t interfere with her movement as she had to our surprise her calf from last year still with her, a beautiful and extremely healthy yearling!
It was a slight dilemma as the males charged after mum as the competition pod got underway but the female was still fiercely defending her calf. The youngster was deliberately separated from mum by the males on a couple of occasions as they raced frantically through Flinders Bay but the mother ensured she returned back to her calf every time. Using us to her advantage she would dive along with her yearling right off our bow before pivoting around us which helped to slow the males until eventually only one remained. He was the winner and proudly swam off with the female and her yearling with all three seeming very relieved the competition pod and intensity had finished. The other two challengers moved out to join a large bachelor pod of seven males whom we traveled with for a while as all of them surfaced next to us and completed another fantastic day with the Augusta Whales.
