A Windy Whale Watching Adventure, 14 September 2018
We had 4 cow, calf pairs in the bay today as well as a variety of seabirds...
Written by Jax Bath, September 15 2018
Guide Summary
With a westerly wind blowing, we set out on Dream Catcher today eager to catch up with some wildlife. We had two lovely tours today where we got to see some awesome Southern Right Whales hanging around the bay. On trip one, we hugged the coast towards Franskraal and traveled no more than 5 minutes before catching up with our first Southern Right Whales on the day, which was a mom with a beautiful baby. Baby had some awesome white patches on its back, which affects only around 4% of our whales here.
After spending some time with these two, we head on towards Uilenkraalsmond where we spotted a few more whales relaxing in the shallow water. The moms here looked to be in great condition and we got a few nice passes here before we made our way towards Dyer Island. We spotted a couple of African Penguins on The Clyde reef system and then we were treated to the sight of a bait ball right behind the island. In a bait ball, you can see a variety of birds fishing which includes the Cape Cormorants and a few different species of Tern. This tour finished off with some time observing the Cape Fur Seals on the island of Geyser Rock.
Trip two also caught up with a beautiful Southern Right Whale baby and her mom, who were hanging out very close to the kelp just outside of Kleinbaai harbor. We could see these whales were super relaxed, with baby playing around mom and exposing a bit of tail so we decided to spend some time here. This calf had grey and white areas on it, which is said to only be present in about 1.4% of animals. You could see that this was party due to mom, who had a couple of white dots on her back as well as some light grey patches too. This beautiful pair came right up to the boat to check out us, to the awe of all on board. They hung around the front of the boat for what felt like ages before moving off. We then went on to see some more whales and some cape Fur Seals before returning home.
Guest Question - What is the fastest Penguin in the world?
Answer – The Gentoo Penguin, which is said to reach speeds of around 35km/h.
Where can you find Northern Right Whales?
Answer – North Atlantic Right Whales can be found on the east coast of Canada and the USA.
Hotspots – Bay of Fundy, Georgia and Florida
North Pacific Right Whale – Off the coast of Alaska in the Bering sea.
Bird List.
Cape Cormorant
Bank Cormorant
White Breasted Cormorant
African Penguin
Swift Tern
Sub Antarctic Skua
Roseate Tern
Kelp and Hartlaubs Gulls.
Daily Snaps.
Mom gets us an experience of a lifetime,
Baby checking us out.
A mom travels past Franskraal.
Baby with its stunning white back.
Close up of moms bulky head.
A travelling calf next to mom’s gigantic tail.
A great sighting of two African Penguins.
Cape Cormorants on a bait ball just behind the island.
The ever picturesque Prince Port.
Some Cape Fur Seals heading in for a swim.
A young seal checking us out.
Seals are a bit awkward, but we love them.
Scratchy.
Mom at the surface with babies fluke just in front of her head.
A good look at babies distinctive back.
Mom had some white and grey on her back too.
Kira, our incredible wildlife spotting whale whisperer.
The head of the calf who approached with mom. You can see the areas that will one day be fulled with barnacles and whale lice.
A mom in the shallows. This girl looks to be in great condition.
a Hartlaubs Gull.
Whale watchers.
A look at mom and calf from above.
A Swift Tern flying close to the whales on the second tour of the day.
Did you order a trip video?
If you would like to get hold of your trip footage, please follow these simple steps:
2 - Complete the details in that form.
3 - Forward to whales@marinedynamicstravel.com
4 - Our team will then forward the video onto you.
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.
