Daily Trip 01 August 2018

Guide Summary and Photographs

It was a great day to be at sea despite a little wind coming up from the west. On both tours, we were able to spot a Southern Right whale, with the second tour also encountering a very relaxed Humpback Whale travelling close to the coast eastward. We set out at 10:00 on the first tour and started off by travelling through shallow water towards Slashfin. After stopping here, we made our way to The Clyde Reef System where we caught up with a Southern Right Whale and her large calf. It was very interesting to see such a large baby so early in the year, even more so because this little one was a half brindle animal, and so was her mom.

Brindle is a phenomenon where a little whale is born completely white, with that colour darkening to grey with age. This is more commonly associated with the male gene, but, when an animal is “half Brindle” it is most likely to be a female.It is said according to the work of Peter Best that only around 10% of females will have this colouration, so it was incredibly special to see both animals with mottled colouration. These whales were also really relaxed, travelling right next to us and giving us some spectacular views as baby kept darting from side to side, playing around with mom and giving us a few views of her speckled tail.

At this sighting, we also got to point out some African Penguins who were moving along The Clyde. We then moved on to Shark Alley to check out what our Cape Fur Seals were up to before heading off back to the harbour.Trip 2 started with a stop in Sponge Bay to try to point out some African Penguins, although this has been made quite difficult due to the rapid decline in their population. We did however spot some of our artificial penguin nests sitting on top of the greenery. We cruised into the space between Geyser Rock and Dyer Island next, getting nice and close to the Labradors of the ocean. Cape Fur Seals are residential so we’re lucky to have the colony with us all year round.We then decided to head towards the sea side town of Pearly Beach where we are lucky enough to spot some whales. The first was a very relaxed Humpback Whale who was cruising up towards warmer waters. These are whales very famous for their song, with the males singing tunes and teaching them to each other verse by verse. We also found a Southern Right Whale moving in the direction of Dyer Island where we got to view him a time or two.

Our last stop of the day was at our beautiful boat Slashfin, where we hit the jack pot. We were able to spot a gorgeous Great White Shark travelling below the surface. This shark also gave us a view of one of his pectoral fins as he surfaced, which is not something we get to see every day.