1 May 2016

4 Bryde's Whales and a very large raft of our favourite little sea birds...what an awesome day!

Written by Jax, May 1 2016

1 May 2016

Guide Summary and Photographs

It was absolutely fantastic to be on the boat again after almost a week of no sea days! We’ve had a cold front move over the country over the last couple of days which has brought with it swells of up to 7 meters! Luckily, the sea has calmed completely and it was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean.

Our first sighting was of a small White Shark which swam around the boat a couple of times. After this, we head towards the island to see the seals and to spot a penguin or two. Dyer Island was pretty empty today which usually indicates that there is a lot of fish out at sea. The lack of cormorants made pointing out the penguins relatively easy although we did not see them too clearly on the island today.

Next, we stopped by our seals on Geyser Rock, this little island was choc-a-block with seals and we stayed with them for several minutes. The children on the boat thoroughly enjoyed their tomfoolery whilst some of us appreciated the seals for their adorable faces and cheeky demeanour.

After this we set off behind the island where we saw a Giant Petrel and some Sooty Shearwaters. We also managed to spot two of our Bryde’s Whales. These majestic creatures are very shy and so we thoroughly enjoy every sighting. These whales came up for us a couple of times before disappearing.

On our way back to the harbour, we spotted two more Bryde’s Whales and this was a very special sighting.  Thses whales were completely relaxed with the boat and came up only several meters away on a number of occasions. One could follow the whale’s footprints and almost predict where they would come up next which was awesome. We also discovered that the second whale was younger and presumably the calf of the other whale. After having seen this sight and feeling incredibly privileged, we saw another spectacular thing.

We had a raft of about 40 African Penguins laying only a few hundred metres from here the whales had been. These birds were amazingly obliging and did not dive down once while we viewed them. We are always lucky to see one penguin and so seeing this many was definitely a mega treat and a sight to remember.

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Whilst it was an early and cold start to the day this morning the bay could not have looked more beautiful with the sun rising over the flattest seas we have seen in five days

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