Support whales in the wild by observing them in their home and be welcomed into their pod for a meaningful and memorable experience. Western Australia is fortunate to witness the largest Humpback Whale migration on the planet as over 45,000 Humpbacks make the annual migration along our coastline. Choosing to see whales and dolphins in the wild supports these populations and prevents the need for captive cetaceans. A wild whale is a happy whale and today was a perfect example of how wonderful it is to see and be amongst a wild whale population. Today we learned the Language of the Whales as many mother and calf pods were teaching their little ones how to communicate with other whales. We started the morning with our Pod Members including the lovely ladies from PLC Collage, it is always a pleasure to welcome our next generation of cetacean guardians onboard to show them the wonderful ways our Humpback Whales and other cetacean species give back to our oceans.
Our first mum and calf pod were sighted not long after we departed looking for some sheltered waters while using the sound footprints of the ships that were at anchor. A stunning turquoise glow appeared from beneath us to reveal one of the most unique looking Humpbacks we have seen in a little while, with white covering most of her body along with many scars we made sure we took plenty of ID photos to add to our catalogue. The young calf took after mum with a very white belly and side flanks. We sat with these two for about fifteen minutes while mum decided she wanted to show off what she had done, bringing her calf right under our bow we were delighted to be trusted this much by our mother Humpback.
After a few very close passes she decided that was enough and went on her way heading south with her calf. Wishing her well we soon joined with the many other pods all communicating today with spectacular breaching, inverted tail slapping, pec slapping and curious spy hops by mother whales. Mother whales began to bring their little ones together for playtime as they erupted with more breaching. Getting closer to each other the calves weren’t as crazy and uncontrolled with their breaches but toned it down a bit to not hurt or injure each other.
Each day we spend with our whales the more we learn which means we can teach a more in-depth knowledge of the species we work with and their environment to every Pod Member that joins us. It is always an incredible experience to be able to see in action how these Humpback Whales communicate and act towards each other and vessels, by learning the Language of the Whales we can then make sure we do right by them. Everyone who joins our tours and becomes a Pod Member helps to do their part in supporting whales in the wild and helps to prevent the need for captive cetaceans.
