Wow! Today we had to “babysit” Pearl the White Southern Right whale calf while her mother (named Mother Of Pearl) decided she was going to have a bit of fun by breaching and head lunging, absolutely incredible! She is a very big mumma whale as the photos show and if you look very carefully in the bottom right corner you will see little Pearl watching her mum the very first time she breached. Very quickly four more breaches and a head lunge followed as she moved further away from Pearl who stayed close to our vessel waiting for her amazing mummy to return.
Such a special experience to see such a large Southern Right Whale breach but what makes today really special is that this is the famous Mother Of Pearl and we think if little Pearl continues to carefully watch and learn from her mum she will grow up to be a Southern Right Whale with an incredible breaching technique because mums was perfect! As Mother Of Pearl knows our vessel now she is showing signs of trust and was so relaxed with us today she gently showed her precious Pearl to us by moving towards us and across our bow, you can see little Pearl curiously checking everyone out on the bow while mum protectively moves just underneath her, what an incredibly special moment!
ID Log
Date – 3.8.16
Species – Southern Right
Lat – Undisclosed Long – Undisclosed (Nursery Status)
Notes – Mother and calf pod
