How long is the Humpback migration? An important question with a remarkable answer, the migration can take an individual Humpback Whale anywhere from four to six months in total to complete the epic journey and is often a round trip of over thirteen thousands kilometres long! Our first interaction this morning was resting pods who were easy going and enjoying the lovely weather conditions. The energy shifted though as the pods eventual converged and their was much excitement with whales scattering as they determined which direction they wanted to travel. The escort males were boisterous with a bit of push and shove as a chase ensued but eventually settled as peace returned to the resting grounds.
The midday tour was a different tempo again as our first pod was a laid back escort male keeping a protective eye over his girl. Something appeared to startle them and with no other pods nearby or vessels we suspected it could have been possible shark activity as they launched into powerful tail lobs and inverted tail slaps. Beautiful to watch the power of these remarkable whales as hey moved effortlessly to communicate the Language of the Whales. Leading us out of the area they moved alongside the channel as two tankers departed and arrived causing a mother Humpback Whale and her calf to move further away for a bit more privacy. The mother was only young and it appeared this may have been her first or second calf as she herself was still young. Although inexperienced she was doing an excellent job of keeping her baby safe as they found a quieter area of the resting grounds to settle in of the afternoon ahead.
Our afternoon tour we enjoyed the company of a very large mother whale, who beautiful calf and protective male escort. The pod was relaxed as they covered ground efficiently through the sighting grounds as they noticed a large but carrier moving through the shipping channel and it seemed to be a common theme today with the three ships observed all seeing these mother and calf pod moving out of the way and keeping clear of the shipping lane, a very important lesson for these young calves. The three approaches curiously to investigate us on a couple of occasions as they also noticed the Navy Submarine moving past and it is always fascinating to watch the intelligence of these mother whales as they use these situations to teach their calves the importance of keeping safe around ships and using the sound created by these vessels to their advantage to disguise their movement from other pods. A wonderful day filled with interesting interactions and lots of happy and healthy bubs.
