Daily Trip 20 August 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

We had picture perfect sea conditions today which makes it really hard to believe that we may be land bound for the next few. We began the day without a breathe of wind, launching from Kleinbaai Harbour and making our way towards Danger point after we had heard rumours of whales just in front of the lighthouse.

Sure enough. 15 minutes after our departure, we came across our first couple of Southern Right Whales for the day. The whales were a little shy but we managed to get a few nice views before spotting a few more of these exquisite creatures a little closer to Birkenhead Rock. One of these whales happened to be a brindle individual and a gorgeous one at that.

Interestingly enough, out of the 3 Right whale species that we have in international waters -the Southern Rights, the North Atlantic Right Whales and the North Pacific Right Whales- the Southern Right Whales are the only species that has been recorded to have almost completely brindle individuals, although some North Pacific Right Whales have been found to have white patches.

Next up, we spotted a large raft of African Penguins just off of Danger Point and watched them for a while before Kira spotted a Humpback Whale. We also caught up with 2 Humpbacks on our second trip a little closer to Dyer Island, moving with them for a while before heading towards the seals.

Humpback Whales are renowned for the songs that they sing, with all male whales in the same population singing the same song. This song is said to change over time and new research suggests that much like us, the whales will learn these songs verse by verse. We’re still not entirely sure why the whales sing, with some whales breaking out in song intermittently for hours at a time.

Our last group of the day had Southern Rights after only a few minutes of travelling and we were lucky enough to have the whales do a really lovely, close approach. After this we head towards our sister company, Marine Dynamics, where we were able to show our clients a Great White Shark. We were pretty chuffed with this as it meant that every single of ours trips today managed to catch a glimpse of these apex predators.

If you would like to get hold of your trip footage, please download the credit card authorization form here to complete and forward it through to bookings@whalewatchsa.com. Please be sure to mention the date and launching time with response. Our team will reply with a direct link to your video footage for download, please allow 72 hours to footage to be uploaded. Download link will be valid for 6 months.

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