Wanderers of the ocean wilderness – Meeting these incredible Humpbacks is always a privilege and observing just a few moments of their epic migration which sights them completing an approximately 13,000km round trip from Antarctica to the Kimberly and back again. Flinders Bay was pulsing with the movements of migrating Humpbacks today as dozens of escort pods shuffled through the bay. Two enormous adults cruised past the Augusta Boat Harbour as the local Bottlenose Dolphins said their good mornings to everyone. Surface activity bubbled up ahead as a couple of these pods approached closely which resulted in a conversation beginning amongst these whales. A very big adult with an enormous white belly which extended up towards his flanks pushed past as he approached a female Humpback. She was not as easily impressed with the good looks of this male who continued to follow her around closely, trying his best.
Further pods up ahead began to breach as whales started to approach each other closely. Chasing each other around the boat and in large circles was a tactic being used by one of the males to deter the approach of this challenge to his spot as the primary escort. Wishing them well we began to venture back towards the coastline when yet another breach was sighted… but this whale was different. All forty five tonnes of Humpback whale was launched into full bodied breaching as this enormous male showed off his power. Completely spectacular, the extraordinary surface activity continued as breach after breach and head lunge after head lunge captivated us all, this was an incredibly large whale. This male was seeking to stand out from the crowd and was certainly sending a strong signal to all those around him. We were most impressed by such a stunningly beautiful individual and his immense power in every move he made. Western Australian Humpback Whales are the wanderers of the ocean wilderness and simply sensational!
