21 October 2016 | Boat Based Whale Watching
On our three whale watches today we had some slightly choppy seas, but Southern Right whales on every trip...
Written by Dyer Island Cruises, October 21 2016
Guide Summary and Photographs
On our three whale watches today we had some slightly choppy seas, but Southern Right whales on every trip.
In the Pearly Beach area we found a mother and calf Southern Right whale pair on each trip. We had some beautiful, close looks on each trip as the whales were slowly milling around the area. As we watch the whales each day we see the calves getting bigger and bigger and the mother whales getting thinner. The females are fasting while they are in South African waters and so they need the calves to grow up so they can begin their migration back to the feeding grounds. The breeding cycle puts a big strain on the mother whale.
This was clearly demonstrated on our third trip where we saw a very playful calf that was rolling around on its Mum, but she had a visible backbone. This is not that unusual for the female whales, but just shows that they need to return to the feeding grounds as soon as their calves are big enough.
On all our trips we also got to see the Cape Fur seals on Geyser Rock and on two out of three we got to see a Great White shark also, and some African Penguins around Dyer Island.
