Flinders Bay competition pods and social pods surrounded us today along with the cheeky Bottlenose Dolphins during another busy and fun filled day with the Augusta Humpback Whales. Moving out into the sighting grounds we could see that many of yesterdays pods had departed the bay and a new wave of whales had moved in overnight including a few escort pods. It was great to see males and females crushing together as they moved through the bay but as to be expected with so many whales around there was plenty of conversations taking place. Tail lobs, breaching and pec slapping was observed amongst multiple pods which was a change of pace from our first pod of the morning with two bachelor males socialising and playing with the local Bottlenose Dolphins.
A competition pod of three formed as the female breached and pec slapped to encourage further males to approach as her male escort did his best to body block the current competitor. Thankfully a nearby pod of boisterous males collected the attention of the challenger who decided to investigate and left the primary male escort of the flirty female as the winner, something he was very happy about! The afternoon was similar with a very interactive pod of bachelor males pec slapping, tail lobbing and curiously moving around our vessel with much interest and close approaches. Many pods were nearby but one in particular captured our attention as seven big, adult whales came tearing into the area. The female was unhappy with the males as she launched into enormous tail lobs and fluke slaps which landed with an incredible thud. Over and over she repeated this language until she finally had control of the pod and then led them on a high octane chase as this Flinders Bay competition pod amazed us all with their agility and power. Other pods reacted nearby with breach and tail lobs, lightning up the bay with the spectacular Language of the Whales.
