Today was a legendary day for Whale Watch WA as we sighted incredible competition pods racing underneath our feat, juvenile males breaching only meters in front of the bow and the most beautiful tail fluke of any whale we have seen which was completely white. We were very excited to meet this whale who looked very much like Vanilla Bean, a whale made famous when rescued by Doug Coughran and sighted onboard Whale Song. Our morning experience was filled with action as males competed for females and raced around our vessel. A young male Humpback who had previous skin lesions which had healed well was chasing a pod of two when all three changed their focus towards us. Seeing the opportunity to disappear the two moved away from our vessel and left the young male who was predominately white circling around us. He then breached twice, one full body breach a few meters in front of the bow and then again on our stern.
The legend onboard Whale Watch WA continued to grow today as we approached a pod moving quickly through Flinders Bay. We all gasped as the third whale lifted his fluke above the waters surface and we could see the pure white fluke speckled in black dotes and our heart skipped a beat… could this be the legendary Vanilla Bean? First sighted and rescued by the late Doug Coughran who gave this special whale a second chance. He was then re-sighted during the filming of Birthplace of the Giants with the Centre of Whale Research legends Curt and Micheline Jenner. Looking closely at the images captured today we can see a very close similarity but not quite the exact same fluke as Vanilla Bean, but perhaps one of his descendants?
Our afternoon was also filled with the intense energy of a competition pod of four with the female Humpback charging towards us from over three hundred meters away! Desperately looking for something to slow down the males on her tail she dived right underneath us and this distraction worked perfectly. The energetic pod of four then spent the next 90 minutes surrounding our vessel with gentle and energetic displays as we watched the Language of the Whales™ unfold right in front of us.
