Daily Trip 31 August 2017

Guide Summary and Photographs

Once again, we had an awesome day out at sea with the Southern Right Whales moving a little closer into our bay! We only had one trip today which was a bit of a shame due to the amazing whale action we’re getting.

The trip started with us heading South West towards deeper water with a full boat and high hopes. We very quickly found a raft of African Penguins in the water and followed them for a bit before spotting our first couple of blows.

When one sees the spout of a whale, you’re not actually looking at water being expelled from the lungs but rather, warm air which meets with our cold atmospheric air, causing a vapour to form. These are often the first tell-tale sign of these majestic giants as one can see a spout from hundreds of meters away.

Once we had approached, we realised that we had come across yet another mating group, this one containing a gorgeous brindle Southern Right Whale. This grey variation is something that we really only get to see off the Southern African coast, as it has not been recorded in other Southern Right Whale populations around the world. This always makes for a special encounter and we watched the whales fool around for as long as what we could, with at least 4 individuals joining the party.

Whilst viewing the whales, we also had a couple of interesting avian visitors soar in. the first was mighty Shy Albatross, who kept its distance before moving a little closer and exposing it’s impressive wingspan. We also had a Giant Petrel join the party, these bulky scavengers are almost equally as impressive as the albatross, as they are also able to spend at least a few years at sea before returning to land.

After this, we cruised along the shallows were, for the second day in a row, we got to see some Indian Ocean Humpback Dolphins. The dolphins were really nice and close and we were all able to nab a good couple of photos of these shy animals. The Humpback Dolphins get their name die to the large fat hump that accumulates on their back and although they look a little strange, they certainly have a special place in our hearts.

The last highlight from today’s trip was a juvenile Southern Right Whale which we found breaching away a little closer to Dyer Island. This whale was incredible to watch, breaching and then approaching us to get a better look at what we were doing. After this, he started to sail, exposing his tail flukes and waving them around for us. Southern Rights are not as well-known as the Humpbacks are for tail thing, but they are equally as stunning when they do give us a glimpse.

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