The Humpback highway at Rottnest Island was peak hour today as dozens of Humpbacks communicated The Language of the Whales™ with spectacular surface activity as everywhere from our bow to the horizon was surrounded by breaching! Beginning our journey with a mature female, calf and escort we enjoyed our time with them before the breaching began straight ahead and the horizon filled with white water created by tonnes of weight hitting the surface. Approaching one of the pods we met the most fantastic calf who was the star of the Humpback highway as he breached and showed off his aerodynamics. He was communicating to an approaching mother and calf pod who also responded occasionally with a breach of their own until eventually both pods joined together.
Although they had now joined together it didn’t stop this young male calf from continuing his breaching, spurred on by the surface activity further ahead, to the left and to the right as we were completely surrounded by Humpback Whales. A pod of adults straight ahead seemed to capture the focus of this energetic calf and he beelined straight towards them with continuos breaching. The adults were focused amongst themselves though with big pectoral fin slapping as a female flirted with two adult males. The breaching calf, mum and male escort continued moving towards the adults and their companion pod of mother and calf decided that was a bit too much activity happening ahead so departed with a few peduncle slaps as mum taught her calf how to protect your space. A truly remarkable day out on the Humpback highway and what a privilege to spend time with our superstars!
