A misty day so my camera stayed under cover for most of the cruise. Total whales seen some where around 15 to 20 humpbacks.
Although we had a slow start to the whale cruise by the time we were heading home we had seen over 30 young humpbacks whales. At one point we must have had about 20 whales with in 1 square km of the boat. Some breaching but always just out of range of the camera even with a 80-400mm lens.
We head out of Princess Royal Harbour as as we head towards Breaksea Island but because of the strengthening NE winds, up on the fly bridge of the Silver Star II, we are getting covered with salt spray at times. So I change course to head straight into the wind. With intentions to tack and to then head to Breaksea Island. As we get closer to Herald Reef the less I want to tack and then we spot blows off in the distance. The blows are several km away and we have a thought that it may be the Southern Right cow that was in KGS last week. As we get closer to the whales it is easy to see that we have 2 Humpbacks cruising towards us. Seems that the gods are looking after today. We turn and follo
June 16th Whale Report We head out across King George Sound after a mate has phoned to tell me he is on the Belches and he has just had 20 plus whales swim past him. We will not get there in time so we keep out eyes peeled as we head towards Bauld Head. We find several pods of Humpbacks whales heading west as we get to the "Humpback Highway" I comment to the group of photographers laden down with at least 2 canon cameras each (No account for some peoples choice of camera) :) That the whales are being a little elusive. We tag along with several pods until Emma tells me she has spotted several whales north of us slapping their tail on the surface. We head over towards these whales and they tu
June 14th Whale Report With light showers forecast we depart the marina. The misty rain will limit visibility but we have plenty of undercover area and we enjoy a hot drink as we cruise across King George Sound. I spot a foot print (a calm patch of water caused by a whales tail as it travels close to the surface) about ¾ of the way across the Sound. It is a very small humpback whales but it is not spending any time on the surface, so we head further out. We spot a breach and by the time we arrive the whale has given up but we follow 2 small Humpbacks until they get close to Bauld Head. We turn and looking east see several more blows with in a very short time. This tells us we may have a p
June 13th Whale Report. We travel through King George Sound cruising on the southern side of Seal Rock hoping to find whales in the Sound, but with no luck we head out of the Sound. And its not long before screams from everybody onboard as we see a breaching whale off in the distance. With a good swell running it is important that every one keeps one hand for the boat and one hand for the camera. We find 2 Humpbacks and follow for some time as they slap their tails on the sea surface. With trying conditions we turn and head back towards KGS and see 3 more whales heading into KGS. We follow these whales for a little while then cruise back past Albany's Historic Whaling Station, along Goode B
June 11th Whale Report. We find the Southern Right cow that has been seen several times on previous cruises but leave her after a quick look as we spot 2 young Humpbacks over near Seal Rock. We follow for some time and enjoy a Australian seal playing with these whales around our boat at times. As we leave these Humpbacks to head back to the marina we find 1 young lone Humpback heading towards Middleton Beach.
June 7th Whale Report. After a couple of days off because of weather we head out into King George Sound and find a large Southern Right whale 2/3 the way out to Breaksea Island. We follow what we believe is a pregnant cow, as she slowly heads in towards Mistaken Island. The wind strength is increasing and Bernie can not see any blows from humpbacks travelling deep so we decide to follow this whale. At times this whale pulls its tail from the water but alas I did not get a picture. We leave this whale and cruise back to the marina via Albany's Historic Whaling Station. We will be keeping a look out for this whale over the coming weeks as I am sure there will be a calf arriving soon.
June 4th Whale Report. Several small humpbacks scattered around King George Sound. This picture was of 1 of those young whales that had no place to go and lots of time to get there. Also found a very big Southern Right whale in KGS. Educated guess tells me it s a cow looking for a quiet place to give birth. We will keep our eyes peeled over the coming days.
The 2018 Whale watching season has kicked off with a bang. Friday we found 1 young humpback out between the islands. Saturday we found several Humpback whales out on the line between Bauld Head and Breaksea Island. Then found a Pigmy Blue whale cow & calf charging west. We left them as they rounded Bauld Head. Sunday morning with stunning sea conditions we find a young Humpback in King George Sound and follow to Limestone Head, we head off between the islands and are told of 2 humpbacks at the outer channel markers but we don't find them as we slowly head home. But what a day to be on the ocean in Albany. Sunday afternoon we find the humpbacks that were seen at the channel markers that are n
