Swimming with the Whales and immersing ourselves into their world as today we enjoyed seeing Flinders Bay alive with dozens of Humpback Whales. It was a busy start to our morning tour as we departed the Augusta Boat Harbour and the first pod of the morning was sighted just ahead. All three whales surfaced together as a further pod of two fifty meters in front on them led the way into the shallows. A small chase took place before they eventually settled into their preferred areas and one whale in particular took our interest. Jet black and beautiful this lovely whale was unique as the underside of the fluke was all black unlike the usual white bellied whales we see a lot of within the southern hemisphere population. Yet another pod in the bay surfaced and were looking to defend their patch of the resting grounds as powerful peduncle slaps echoed out to tell an approaching pod to keep clear.
The afternoon was very similar to our morning as we could see multiple pods gathering in the bay. One pod in particular was very curious as the male approached us closely and every little scar and barnacle could be seen easily on his enormous back. The female was content in making her way through the bay as the male did his best to impress her with a couple of magnificent breaches and boisterous behaviour. A challenger arrived and both the males took off after each other as the female led them on a chase through the abalone farm. The male we had gotten to know well appeared to be holding his spot as primary male escort for now and we wished them well as they raced forwards. A second pod were moving through the bay including a very young whale who began to breach in the afternoon sunset which was just beautiful to see. The call went out and it didn’t take long for the nearby whale to our right to swim directly towards the breacher as they joined together which was fantastic to see.
