Humpback Whale Salute as one of the Australian Warships moved past our Western Australian Humpbacks who respectfully gave their Humpback Whale salute! A beautiful morning to great the beginning of October as we watched the sparkling blue water light up all around us with the tall exhalations of moving Humpbacks. A few of the pods were resting quietly and watching the tankers move past when three young adults began to move towards us. Sitting still and watching carefully we all jumped as the loud, “whoosh” of a powerful exhalation erupted only a few meters off our bow. These three male Humpbacks travelling in a bachelor pod had come over to say hello and investigate. 

They dived underneath us and surfaced to our port as they continued their morning swim. Now that we had been accepted into the pod, we all moved together as one big pod cruising through the neighbourhood. The other whales close by had gotten too close to each other and the females decide to keep the attention of the males. Two adult females began to pec slap away and we watched on as The Language of the Whales was in full display. Breaching a few hundred meters ahead began in a response to the pec slapping and the conversation went back and forth for a little while. Eventually, the younger female had kept the attention of four males who now began to follow her closely which left the older female travelling with her original male escort. 

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