Bachelor pod interrupts resting grounds as six big males showed off to the mothers and calves with their boisterous displays and cheeky energy. A cloud cover settled over the sighting grounds as we made our way towards our first pod for the morning which was a very relaxed and extremely curious mother and calf. The little one looked directly towards us as his mum gently guided her calf past the bow with much interest by both of these beautiful whales. The mother was only young and approximately twelve meters in length indicating this would likely be her second calf or possibly first if she was a late developer in size. It was wonderful to see them both looking well as we watched them continue further into the resting grounds as we made our way out to higher energy amongst multiple pods converging. Arriving we could see three separate pods within two hundred meters of each other with a big pod close on ten whales.
A mother was pec slapping to call out as we noticed the larger pod contained at least six boisterous males. A bachelor pod had come across two mothers and their calves with the boys all jostling to get closer to the females. The mothers kept calm and continued to swim steadily towards Rottnest Island and maintained momentum to keep the bachelor pod under control. The calves both seemed bemused by it all and carefully swam alongside mum, keeping close to her is vitally important amongst all the bigger males and their higher energy levels. One of the mothers noticed an opportunity to make a break away from the pod as she swam underneath our bow closely and moved out to our starboard side. Using our sound footprint to escape the busy pod the mother and calf moved off into the resting grounds. It now left the males and one mother and calf with one of the bachelor males seeming to notice that the tactic of using our vessel worked well. Mother, calf and the now primary male escort moved quickly past our bow and managed to disappear from the rest of the bachelor males efficiently. All that remained were four big males deciding that now the females had left they would continue on with their southbound journey.
