Rottnest Island Whale Season is from September to early December for the Humpback Whale southbound migration as thousands of Humpbacks make their annual journey past the island. During the autumn months both Humpback Whales and Blue Whales can be observed migrating north past Rottnest Island but are found further offshore in deeper waters. The best time to spot whales from Rottnest Island is September through to late November being the peak season as they hug the coastline and Rotto on the long journey back towards Antarctica. Today we were very excited to see this morning three seperate mum and calf pods found within the sighting grounds, our first multiple cow/calf pods in the one tour for the southbound migration so far which indicates more mums and calves arriving is imminent. The first calf was tiny and appeared to be a good month younger than the others, mum was also very young and this was possibly her first or second calf.
The other two bubs were older and boisterous as they twisted and rolled on the surface as one of the mums showed a couple of gentle pec slaps to her calf. The afternoon was a different tempo entirely as the boys were back in town with multiple adult whales spread over a few hundred meters and were communicating the Language of the Whales. Tail slapping and pec slapping were observed mainly as they all communicated as to who was where with a kerfuffle unfolding right next to us as a few whales joined. The boys were boisterous with big defensive tail lobs and an almighty full body breach sending a strong message as the winds started to increase and white water was flying. It was a busy end to the day with the whales and great to see a wonderful mix of age groups and pod dynamics coming through over the last week. The Rottnest Island Whale season is a perfect time to see Humpback Whales in big numbers as between 100-200 per day move through the resting grounds and bring with them much fun to this stretch of the Australian coastline.
