Whale Sighting - Fri 28th May 2010

Number of sightings on the 2010 Northern migration so far = 72.

Whales sighted off True Blue vessel Explorer: 13 whales, 220 Offshore or Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), approx 45 Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), 2 Australian Fur Seal. Flocks of Gannets, 16 Black Browed Albatross and plenty of Sea Gulls.

This afternoon True Blue Explorer cruised out in good conditions with only a slight breeze and hardly any swell. The crew sighted a pod of 2 humpback whales in the middle of Sydney Heads as they were on their way out to the ocean. The whales were slowly swimming north and performed some very graceful fluke up dives. The whales were friendly and were happy to be followed with only 5 minute downtimes and lots of surface time until it was time to say goodbye and return to the harbour. A very shy Minke Whale was sighted for a short time and the pelagic sea birds, including the Black Browed Albatross and Gannets were out also and a pod of approx 25 Bottlenosed Dolphins joined in to play with the whales.

Each day is a different experience, with today being a fabulous day to be on the water.

Explorer and her passengers with another vessel participated in the Macquarie University Marine Mammal Research trials this afternoon, moving at a slow pace in towards the whales to monitor their behaviour. This pod of humpbacks showed no signs of disturbance and were happy to swim on their migratory course.