Fremantle Whale Watching in September is a wonderful opportunity to join the largest migration of Humpback Whales in the world and meet some of the remarkable individuals who are southbound to Antarctica. Our first sighting today was shortly after departing the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour as an enormous footprint appeared on the surface, a whale had just swam past our bow. Waiting and watching carefully, after five minutes another footprint surfaced not far from us and we felt that this behaviour was very much appearing to be that of a Southern Right Whale. A resting whale can comfortably hold their breath for over twenty minutes so we decided to continue on with our morning, although still monitoring the area for our elusive friend. A blow up ahead was distinctive and the call went out, Humpback Whales and large individuals they were too. Slowly approaching, we could see that this escort pod was moving away from another pod just behind them and they were in a bit of a hurry to clear some space in-between each other.
Journeying with them and once they had created a reactionary distance from the second pod, they relaxed and swam alongside us. Travelling with purpose, they were moving towards the reef line but their trajectory we could see would eventually have them swimming directly towards the second pod. Pods converging often creates a perfect opportunity for a conversation to take place and that is exactly what unfolded as the Language of the Whales was in full display. Powerful tail lobs began as the male launched himself skywards with much effort, the female then followed with pectoral slapping that was simply stunning. She was enormous and her five meter, one thousand kilogram pecs were landing on the surface with an almighty thud. The second pod responded to this sudden change of energy by quickly changing direction and moving away. The escort pod did not slow though and made sure their message was loud and clear as continued tail lobs, pec slapping and fluke slapping erupted only meters from our bow. A wonderful day enjoying Fremantle whale watching, our magnificent whales teaching us their language and how impressive it is!
