We had a spectacular example of the Language of the Whales today as three separate mother and calf pods communicated with explosive energy that had us believing the young calf wanted to fly! All three mothers were communicating slightly differently, one started the conversation with inverted tail slapping and this was shortly followed by the second pod with enormous head lunges by both mother and calf. The third pod had built a relationship with us and did a full 180 turn away from the surface active pods and decided to come right in close to try and hide in our sound footprint… the unique personalities of our mums and their language continues to intrigue us.
The young head lunging calf was also very interested in us and after a bit of practice with some Humpback surface activity he brought mum over so he could come say hello before being easily distracted by the most fun looking clump of seaweed and as expected he raced over for a quick roll! We also sighted Mr Shelly the Green Sea Turtle today who may have been originally sighted a few months ago on the journey back from the Blue Whale Perth Canyon Expedition. Having been sighted by only one crew member it was believed this sighting was of some “fast moving” seaweed until Mr Shelly rolled up today to show that there certainly are a few turtles who call Rottnest home mostly during their juvenile years and the elusive turtle story is no longer.
