Perth city whale watching was alive and well this morning, as we departed from the Fremantle fishing boat harbour we were greeted by Humpback mother and calf pods everywhere. As a stunning rain shower passed over us our humpback whales rolled all over the oceans surface to feel the sensation of the rain falling on their skin. Each humpback calf had their own little character which we love, our first one was all about the tail lob making sure the bachelor pod of humpback males close by wouldn’t come over and hassle his mum.
The second was a little nervous and made sure she was right next to mum for protection. Meanwhile our third calf wasn’t nervous or shy at all and was making sure all the pods near by knew exactly where he was through fluke slapping. Approaching this third calf we noticed through our photo ID done onboard every tour by our research photographer he had Orca teeth marks that scarred each side of his fluke. Still healing it was a bit pink indicating the Orca attack has happened in the last few weeks, perhaps from our Exmouth Orca pod.
Although this little calf had a very close call with Orca he was very strong and vibrant which was great to see even after an Orca attack he has bounced back and isn’t afraid of what our West Australian waters hold. Hopefully going forward this experience will prepare him for the Orca if he ever crosses paths with them again. The photo ID of this calf’s scars will make it easier for us to recognise him in the future, giving us a better understanding of our Humpbacks lives.
We then headed for home, as we did one boisterous young calf launched out of the water showing us his latest breaching style, the sideways breach with two pecs out was his best. Another pod right in line with Perth City started tail slapping as they communicated with the little breacher. We watched on and witnessed the Language Of The Whales right before our eyes before continuing on back to Fremantle, where we will wait for our next tours to depart and see what our beautiful Humpback whales have in store for us then.
