See Whales in Fremantle with Whale Watch Western Australia and meet the largest Humpback migration on the planet as they head south past our coastline every September to November. Today was picture perfect with big blue skies, a calm ocean with many social and talkative Humpback Whales, it wasn’t long until we came across our fist pod and as we spent time with them we soon realised we had a little Humpback calf playing with the big boys. Mother Humpback decided she would turn a competition pod into a social pod with five male Humpbacks rolling around trying to convince mum they are the chosen one to escort her back down to Antarctica.
Normally when we have a few males hassling mum and calf all they want to do is get away and rest but this time it was mum and calf wanting to play and socialise. The original escort male definitely was letting the other males know he was the boss with a huge spy hop and push towards another male who spy hopped out of the water towards him to try and see what was going on. It was competitive and initially we were concerned for the calf as with so many big males competing things can get dangerous. Interestingly the mother was not fussed and seemed to have a good control of the situation as over time the males started to relax and things turned very social to our surprise. One of the younger males was kicked out of the comp pod and in frustration he immediately responded to a breaching whale a few hundred meters away with some spectacular breaching and head lunging of his own just off our bow!
It intrigued the comp pod who returned back to him along with mum and calf who were all now travelling as one. The sneaky approach under our vessel by two further whales didn’t fool the little calf at all. Our little calf launched into huge tail lobs, well as huge as a 2-4 tonne baby humpback can do. He was tail lobbing and started to head lunge as well, if that wasn’t enough he pulled out his biggest and most dominant move he could do….the breach! In his mind he was the biggest whale there trying to copy what the older male had just done before.
It was a wonderful thing to see the Language of the Whales in action at such a young age, mum has taught him well. As he was breaching red and blue helium balloons were spotted next to him almost as if he was having his own little breaching party. After the pod had moved away from he area we were able to move in and retrieve the balloons and pop them into the bin aboard to ensure they would not become a problem for any wildlife in the area.
After such a wonderful morning tour we then headed out for our afternoon tour to see some whales from Fremantle. The winds were low and the ocean was absolutely beautiful and calm. As we made our way out towards the tankers on anchor we sighted two blows, without hesitation we went over to see who we had. Two beautiful Humpback Whales just relaxing and cruising along the surface not far from us we sat and waited for the next surfacing.
A huge blow right under our bow as our Humpbacks curiosity got the better of them, they went under and around our vessel spying on our pod members onboard with big spy hops and slow surfaces nice and close to our vessel so they could get a better look.
They were beautiful whales coming in so close to us and checking us out. The trust and respect we build with our whales is always so important to us. It was up to them to come say hello and they chose us within minutes of our introduction which is always a very special feeling. As we joined the pod with these two whales we just sat and watched as they circled us for over an hour with much joy.
We then saw a blow closer to shore so we parted ways with these two special Humpbacks to go see who was making a bit of commotion on the surface. It was another mum and calf along with two males, again a similar social pod with mum and calf just like our morning tour. They were very relaxed and rolled around the surface basking in the bright sunshine as they socialised for a while before heading out towards the reef. We left them on their way hoping they have a safe trip back to Antarctica. Cruising back into Fremantle we were very happy and content with another wonderful day spent with our whales, we will be out again tomorrow to see whales from Fremantle once again and welcome our wonderful Pod Members onboard.
