Social time with the Humpback Whales today as we enjoyed watching in the picture perfect conditions mother and calves socialising with escort males and bachelor boys also joining in on the fun. It really was a lovely morning and made us smile to see so many happy, social whales enjoying themselves. It is certainly what the resting grounds are all about as after some time snoozing and recouping energy levels it enables pods to have some social interactions with others. Socialising is not the main priority in the feeding grounds of Antarctica, food and rest is vital and must be done with discipline and consistency to ensure they put on weight steadily which will result in a successful migration for the following season. The babies loved every minute of the fun this morning as one calf was confirmed to be male and as expected with his very cute dominant tail lob displays and baby trumpeting, one day that will be intimidating but for now it is just adorable!
The social fun continued during our midday tour as we came across a mum and calf along with one of the males from this morning who had found them. Accepted as the protective escort for this pod, he seemed pleased to be joining this mum and calf this afternoon. Mumma whale began to pec slap and it was spectacular, in the still conditions the sound of one thousand kilograms crashing down onto the waters surfaced echoed out and after a solid twenty minutes of repeated pec slapping she eventually had company. A lone adult approached with much interest but very quickly noticed the escort male so he departed and it was at that time mum and calf settled in for the afternoon ahead. Nearby mum and calf pods hadn’t approached as they seemed to have more shy personalities and were not overly confident approaching a big escort male. It was certainly all about the whales today with summary pods moving through the sighting grounds.
