Our mother Humpback Whales never cease to amaze us with how protective they are over their calves. Passing boats to orca attacks and wild weather they always put their calves life in front of their own. Today we witnessed a whole coastline filled with Humpback mothers and calves, from resting ones to curious ones and active ones with the mothers teaching the Language of the Whales. Our morning cruise out to the sighting grounds was wonderful as we soaked in the stunning weather as warm sunshine, smooth seas and glassy conditions had us gliding out to the Humpback creche. It didn’t take us long to sight the first mother and calf pair, just taking it easy in the sun and becoming very curious towards us, with the young calf lifting his head to get a better look at who we were. Mum approved by placing her calf closest to us showing us that the respect we showed her with our approach was appreciated.
Further pods had converged and amongst the socialising pods a brave young calf took on a huge tanker, showing off his big pec slap with mum right by his side of course. We love how Humpbacks have such unique characters so meeting each one is always different. It’s not just the character of the whales that are different and unique, their markings and scars are as well. One young male Humpback who was hanging around the ladies had a very easy to ID dorsal fin….. he didn’t have one! The appearance of the scarring indicates it could be an old rope entanglement which has cut through that area of he has had a few rough competitions with other males over the years. The loss of his dorsal fine will not bother this young male who has adapted well to balancing and moving efficiently through the ocean he calls home.
He will be entered into our ever growing catalogue and we hope to re-sight him once again in the future. After a full morning of spending time with our wonderful humpbacks we started to make our way back to port as we did a huge wall of white water caught our attention, a big breaching mother Humpback Whale started to launch and call out to all that were nearby. Approaching we smiled to see that her darling calf was practicing everything mum was doing including the most perfect little pec slaps. A baby girl and how adorable to see her learning how to get other whales attention through flirty surface activity. Fighter jets zoomed past the Perth City skyline to complete a most wonderful morning and also reminded us that it isn’t just our Humpback mothers who put their lives before their own to protect what they love.
