Australian Whale species mingled today as to our great excitement a very curious Southern Right Whale and Humpback swam past and met briefly in Flinders Bay, Augusta. Another early arrival for the Southern Right Whale season and this beautiful individual swam towards our bow and as we watched carefully for the next resurfacing, we all jumped as a massive fluke was lifted gracefully a few meters from us! Continuing around our stern and alongside our vessel this lovely Southern Right was checking us out when the large exhalation of a Humpback was heard behind us. A big adult pushed past and swam straight up to this Southern Right for a closer look and we watched on in amazement, these interactions between both species are not common to observe. The interaction lasted for no more than a few minutes and eventually both whales separated and moved in different directions, a special sight to observe these Australian Whale species interact.
Humpbacks once again moved through the bay and many pods were sighted all around. It was interesting to observe the behaviour amongst the pods as bachelor males shuffled about in search of an available female. It wasn’t too long before a competition pod of five Humpbacks joined together this afternoon and surged through the bay. Shuffling their body positions to try and get ahead of the others kept them busy as large, smooth footprints rose to the surface from those flukes moving fast! Boisterous activity was sighted up ahead with further individuals moving towards each other creating some fuss amongst the pods as they tried to find some free space to continue the northern migration, Humpback Whales were everywhere mingling away the day!
