Perth Whale Watching Season starts today as we celebrated our first day out of Fremantle with a Dwarf Minke Whale, flirty Southern Right Whales and boisterous Humpback Whales! A perfect way to kickstart the southbound migration as we departed the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour on a picture perfect morning aboard the Steep Point after her extensive winter refit. Arriving in the sighting grounds a flash of dark grey zoomed past our port bow and we knew quickly that this speedy cetacean was looking to be very Minke like. Sure enough, a most gorgeous juvenile Dwarf Minke Whale surfaced alongside us a short time later. The youngster was shy but curious as each surfacing saw the little one coming a bit closer each time. Looking ahead of us we sighted much to our great excitement two large Southern Right Whales swimming towards us and it appeared our Minke Whale was interested in them as well.
Rolling and cuddling at the surface throughout our entire interaction these two flirty Southern Right Whales were a joy to spend time with. A very exciting interaction to see both species this morning as although they are well known to frequent these waters during the southbound migration, sightings of them are fairly uncommon. The Humpback Whales made sure that their cetacean cousins didn’t steal all of the show as four pods of two Humpback Whales began to communicate amongst each other. Breaching, pec slapping and tail lobbing erupted as the Language of the Whales was displayed perfectly for all onboard to see. A social interaction unfolded as they began to chase after each other playfully and with high energy. The Southern Right Whales also completed the perfect morning with some powerful fluke slapping to assert their dominance and give vessels passing by a clear area to move past as their reactionary distance zone was established. Perth Whale Watching season start couldn’t have been better today for the southbound migration of Season 2022 and we look forward to seeing what the next few months has for us to observe, we hope to see you onboard soon.
