Today we could see why Augusta whale watching is so special as throughout both our morning and afternoon experiences we were surrounded by curious Humpback Whales and very close encounters! The first two juveniles we met this morning had been playing in seaweed and relieving their itchy skin when they decided to come over and investigate. Treating a nearby recreational vessel very similar to how they would treat another calf, this cheeky individual surfaced only centimetres away from the small vessel that was the same size as him. Bottlenose Dolphins also joined us for a short time before porpoising towards one of the numerous baitfish balls sighted today. A mother and her yearling calf travelling into Flinders Bay caught our attention and it wasn’t long before they both decided to take a rest. Incredibly, they drifted past our bow as the yearling calf rested on top of mums back and both were so trusting of us they were relaxed enough to be sleeping meters away from everyone on the bow (we made sure not to make any noise to disturb them!).
The morning tour was fantastic and we were in for a surprise during our afternoon experience only moments after leaving the Augusta Boat Harbour. A tail fluke led us towards a juvenile Humpback Whale gently rolling and twisting at the surface. On our approach he made his way over towards our vessel to investigate and soon all of his focus was on his new human admirers! Circling around and around us, he would every so often tilt to the side and show us his big white belly before looking back up towards us. One of the very special moments of the afternoon was when he would make his way towards our stern and on our water level viewing platform we would make eye contact with a Dinosaur of the Deep™.
