Fat Whales Project is currently underway onboard Whale Watch Western Australia and today we had perfect weather and perfect whales for Grace to complete her data collection. The sun was shining and winds light as we departed the Augusta Boat Harbour and it wasn’t long before the first pods were sighted. Three pods were resting quietly and enjoying a peaceful start to their morning which was an ideal opportunity for the drone to capture some images of these whales in such a relaxed mood. It was to change quickly though as next to the abalone farm a commotion was beginning to take place as a female Humpback launched into breaching and pec slapping.
Three males jostled around her as she encouraged their attention and led them on a chase around us as one dominant male held his ground. During every breach he would be right alongside her lunging forward and not giving any challengers even a slight chance of getting close. His persistence paid off and eventually the other challengers diverted away leaving the happy couple to continue on with their morning. Further pods moved through the bay and at one point we were surrounded by four pods moving quickly past us all at once, the reason was soon realised as yet another competition pod begun just up ahead. Tallying up the numbers we could observe six whales in this pod with much energy as the chase was well underway. It was a fantastic day for the Fat Whales Project with much data collected from many different individuals and always a joy to be surrounded by so many active and thriving Humpback Whales enjoying Flinders Bay.
