A Whale Of A Time With Our Baleen Beauties, 03 October 2018
A memory-filled, momentous day on the ocean...
Written by Jax Bath, October 4 2018
Guide Summary.
With a south easterly wind blowing, we set out on 4 whale watching tours today. We had another amazing day out on the water, with us spotting Southern Right Whales left, right and center. We have at least 8 pairs of cows and calves in the bay and you can see they’re all growing really nicely! E even had a brindle calf around on the last tour of the day. The wind picked up throughout the day, but this did not deter us in the least as the whales seemed to pick up too. Sightings were plentiful and we were really treated to an incredible time out.
The first tour of the day started off with a sighting of a juvenile African Penguin only a few minutes out the harbour. We then went on to find an awesome pair of whales. This Southern Right Whale mother opened her mouth nice and wide, showing off her impressive baleen as she gaped. This was one of the highlights of this tour! We went on to spend a few more breath-taking moments with the whales before heading off towards Slashfin where we got to see a Copper Shark. We finished off our tour with some time at Geyser Rock watching our Cape Fur Seals nap.
Trip 2 has the Southern Right Whales come up to the boat, we were surrounded by a curious calve who wanted to check us out. We watched the whales and the whales watched us before we took a quick stop over at Slashfin. We then cruised on to find an African Penguin hanging out in front of The Clyde Reef System. This penguin didn’t look to be in tip top shape, and we spotted him on the 4th tour of the day in a similar area, unfortunately, were unable to help him out today, but we hope that he will recover or that we he will be taken into the care of our African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary just outside of town should he be found on Dyer Island. Our last stop for this tour was with our seal colony before heading back to port.
The third tour of the day also got to spot 3 of the Marine Big 5, with African Penguins, Cape Fur Seals and lots and lots of Whales. The wind started to pick up at this point, so we got to see the whales becoming a little more playful. We watched as the moms and babies bonded, rolling around and carrying on. This is always a special sight as these animals are really tactical and you get to see just how much they enjoy their fun time. After watching this frolicking, we ticked off penguins on Dyer Island and our Cutie Cape Fur Seal colony.
Trip 4 got the sighting of a lifetime, with whales breaching and lobtailing all in one area. We think this was due to the breeze we had blowing, and we could to have been more thankful for it. We got to see Spy Hopping, tails, Flippers and even got a very close approach from a little white whale who wanted to say hi. The whales were all around and we were left completely in awe of this incredible sight. We topped off this epic whale watching adventure with a stop at Dyer Island and Geyser Rock before calling it a fantastic day.
Daily Snaps.
In this picture, you can see a splash from a breach in the background, a Lobtailing calf in the foreground and a baby brindle in the middle. What a surreal sighting.
Baby checking us out.
Happy to be whale watching back home.
A mother whale giving us a one over.
We had so many approaches today from these friendly gentle giants.
A juvenile African Penguin.
A juvenile penguin practicing its pose.
Baleen! We really don’t get to see them open their mouths too often here.
I couldn’t get enough of this sight, the best baleen sighting on the season.
Look at those not so Pearly Whites! These whales are not really feeding in our waters, so we don’t get to see the mouths open all the time.
Last one.
A Copper Shark.
A White Chinned Petrel flies in front of Dyer Island.
Going for a swim.
Tomfoolery.
A stunning little calf covered in whale lice.
Below the white patch, you can see baby’s eye, which is closed.
Baby whale, cuddling mother whale.
look at that big, beautiful brown eye.
Kisses.
Cow and calf doing some travelling.
Little one checking out what’s going on from behind mother whale.
We had two pairs playing here, it’s safe to say that they were having a swell time.
can you spot the African Penguins.
A dramatic Spyhop.
Rolling around, this little guy was full of fun.
Baby whale tail.
A lobtailing mother gave us a real show just as we began to move away form here,.
Some epic lobtailing.
When an adult is fully grown, the tail may be 5m from tip to tip.
A Lobtail with another whale in the back.
Not the best picture, but imagine a breaching baby with a brindle travelling by and some lob tailing right next to the boat.That is the sight we were treated to.
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What species did we see today?
Southern Right Whale Southern Right Whale
Southern right whales attract thousands of visitors every year to experience these gentle giants off the South African coast.
