Hello Perth Whale Watching this morning as the Humpbacks waved hello in a social morning interaction before our afternoon enjoyed the company of nine big, beautiful whales socialising with a slight competitive flair. A beautiful day to be out on the water with many pods currently moving through the area including plenty of bachelor males but our first interaction was with a beautiful calf, mum and protective male escort. The little family pod were on a mission to move out of the area they were in (we would soon find out why) and as they approached our vessel all three curiously approached. The little one was in fantastic health and must have been born earlier in the season as the strength and confidence of this calf was almost yearling like! Swimming around us a few times with great interest they eventually settled a short distance away for the calf to feed as we left them to it and moved out towards a commotion just ahead. It was now clear why the mother whale had been so keen on finding a quiet spot as we had close on 8 to 10 whales socialising with spectator pec slapping and the resounding thud echoing out through the sighting grounds.
Our afternoon was similar as we observed a large pod that had formed just ahead and on arrival we had a total of nine Humpback Whales swimming together. It was slightly competitive as they all jostled, pushed and shoved to get ahead of one another with plenty of noisy trumpeting exhalations mixed in with fluke and pectoral fin swipes between them all. The entire interaction observed them moving as one along the surface constantly as they pushed out towards Rottnest Island on this fine afternoon. Moving through mid September we are now observing a steady number of escort pods (male and female travelling together), bachelor pods and the very first few mums and bubs heading down the coastline. The majority of yearlings, juveniles and subadults have now moved through after leading the start of the migration south. It has been a marvellous start to our southern migration sightings for Season 2024 and we are very much looking forward to the days and week ahead.
