Breaching Humpback calves were having fun on both our morning and afternoon tours today as the little ones made the most of the beautiful conditions. It was a lovely morning with a turquoise sea and light breeze as we approached three mother and calf pods moving into the resting grounds. It was great to see the calves making the most of their time here as they rested and fed with their mums in the shallow and sheltered waters. A few smaller vessels wizzed past the area at high speeds which kept one of the mother whales a bit anxious as she approached us and settled right below the Steep Point using our sound footprint to her advantage. Her little one was gorgeous and very curious as he came over to check us out and after a good feed of milk launched into a huge breach! A young juvenile male was happily searching for a friend and came across the boisterous Bottlenose Dolphins as he chased after them to join in on the fun.
The pods kept moving through the sighting grounds as this afternoon a few escort pods were scattered. Moving away at speed we soon found out why they were in a hurry as a competition pod of five adults began to swim towards us at pace. The female led the way and was being closely followed by four big males who were jostling for position closest to her. She needed to dive underneath us a few times to try and get ahead of the cheeky males who continued to close in on her preferred reactionary distance. It was fantastic to see a competition pod today as the peak of the breeding season is during the winter months. The males are still however looking for a female to escort south which keeps things busy for the southbound bachelor males. The same mother and calf from this morning decided to stretch out and we could see the little one launch into a few big breaches before following up with a couple of head lunges.
