Southbound Humpback Whales are currently meandering past Fremantle as scattered escort pods and bachelor males begin the enormous swim back towards Antarctica. The first to lead the march back towards the summer feeding grounds, these Humpbacks are not in a hurry as they make the most of their time in the sheltered waters. Our first pod appeared to be bachelor males as they cruised together and seemed rather relaxed. Covering ground efficiently we soon found ourselves close to Rottnest Island showcasing just how quickly Humpback Whales can cover ground even when travelling relatively slowly. One big tail dive enabled us the perfect opportunity to capture the fluke identification image required to recognise this whale in future interactions. A second pod appeared a distance away so we decided to go and meet this whales as we observed tail slapping from one of the individuals.
On our arrival it was clear to see this was a protective male escort travelling with his female as the escort pod were also making the journey towards Rottnest. It appeared these whales today were all focused on enjoying their time in these waters off Fremantle but also keen on making their way towards Rottnest Island where they will get ready to depart and continue southbound. It was great to see both these whales lift their flukes high and both fluke id images were capture, fantastic! A cheeky tail slap a little while later from the dominant male showed us that he was being extra cautious in protecting his female and making s no whale, shark or boat came too close to his girl. It has been a steady start to the southbound migration with a good number of pods moving through but with the weather still very chilly we know that once the temperature starts to increase the number of pods moving south will explode in numbers and we cannot wait!
