Humpbacks and Dolphins play in Augusta this morning as shortly after departing the Augusta Boat Harbour the distinctive dorsal fins of the local Bottlenose Dolphins broke the surface as they surrounded a pod of curious and gentle Humpback Whales. At first we sighted just the one Humpback Whale who most certainly was a yearling from his small length and healthy weight, his mum had taken good care of him! He was focused on following after the Dolphins who twisted and turned around him as he attempted to do the same. Swimming directly towards us curiously, he looked up at the bow as the Dolphins surrounded us and we smiled back towards this beautiful young whale. Shortly afterwards a second individual surfaced, at first this whale looked to be very young as well and approximately 11 meters in length. Throughout the interaction we watched the behaviour of between both whales and as time went on it appeared to be very likely that this larger, second whale was in fact the yearlings mother.
She was only young and this yearling was highly likely her first calf, she still protectively kept close and watched the Dolphins every move. It is always a privilege to see these intimate moments between whales as they socialise and play together, very soon this yearling will depart its mum for the first time and begin a journey all on its own. Further pods surrounded us and it was interesting to observe as the Dolphins also approached the others around them in search of some Humpback and Dolphin play time. The other pods had begun to go into resting mode as they rested directly underneath us, surfacing so close it gave us all a fright! Distant breaching indicated that one of the pods had approached a little too closely to another resting pod but all was settled after a couple of breaches amongst the misty rain as they headed off into the shallows of the bay.
