Perth’s Best Whale Watch Experience is with Whale Watch Western Australia and today we had a spectacular morning of surface active whales and intimate encounters. The slightly overcast sky and calm conditions was the perfect start to our journey and allowed for a clear and uninterrupted view of the sighting grounds. Shortly after arriving we came across a beautiful large female, her healthy calf and a protective male escort. These three were enjoying each others company and the mother whale wanted to bring her calf over to us for a closer look which she achieved briefly, before the big male squeezed in-between them both to assert his dominance. Certainly not wanting the female to take too much interest in us, this male was wanting to keep his position as primary escort and used his body to achieve that objective. We gently departed this lovely pod and made our way over to some surface activity starting up amongst a couple of pods.
A male escort was fluke slapping and tail lobbing as mother and calf watched on close by, he seemed to be protecting the space around him and showing off to the female. After his display, the female quickly swam over towards us in a hurry. The male escort must have only recently introduced himself and this mother Humpback was not yet trusting of him, instead deciding to hide in our sound footprint. They surfaced so close to our stern as we watched carefully and stayed perfectly still, how special to have the trust of this mother whale and her curious calf. The sunshine started to break through and we were just about to say goodbye to our last mother/calf pod for the morning when a commotion started up behind us… should we stay or go? Definitely go! A large female Humpback was breaching and breaching, closely followed by seven competitive males jostling for her attention. She raced in and around our vessel, breaching only meters from our bow as she showed off and encouraged the continued attention from the boisterous males. Further breaching and pec slapping kept them interested and they chased after her, hugging close to our vessel, this female was very flirty and seemed to be enjoying her search for the perfect escort.
Another incredible sighting today was whale poo! Highly unusual to witness during the Humpback migration as the majority of the adults are not feeding from the time they leave Antarctica until their return. The WA population is growing and perhaps with more whales there is a slight increase in competition for food as on both occasions today we witnessed a large plume of whale poo that was from male Humpback Whales on both occasions. Indicating that these Humpbacks have both eaten within the last 24 hours, these males would have more time on their hands to take advantage of any opportunistic feeding opportunities that present themselves on the southbound journey.
Perth’s best whale watch experience unfolds everyday onboard Whale Watch Western Australia and what a privilege it is to dedicate our year to the observation of cetaceans off the WA coastline!
