Whale Sighting - Sun 18th Jul 2010

Whales sighted off True Blue vessel Explorer this season: 321 humpback whales, 3 Southern Right, 2 minke, 220 Offshore or Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), approx 94 Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), 20 Common Dolphins, 3 Australian Fur Seal. Flocks of Gannets, 22 Black Browed Albatross, and plenty of Sea Gulls. 4 Fairy Penguins.

The morning cruise departed in perect conditions with only 1metre of swell and a slight breeze. 6 pods of 2 humpbacks were reported swimming north just 3 miles off Bondi. The whales displayed strong spouting and performed graceful fluke up dives.

On a more somber note an injured humpback was struggling to swim as it came beside the Explorer obviously distressed. It was entangled in fishing net a hazard of the ocean that these enormous creatures have to deal with. Its mate swimming besdie was helpless to assist it in its plight. It will be monitored and a rescue team employed to assist it detangle will hopefully be successful.

The afternoon cruise departed calm conditions. The skipper reported whales off Sydney Heads just minutes after entering the open ocean the whale highway was busy with a pod of 2 humpbacks off Bondi. Then a Pod of 3 were sighted shortly after, only half a mile away. The antics for the afternoon enthralled one and all with hundreds of pectoral fin slaps, fluke up dives, head lunges and tail slapping too boot. It was a whale frenzy as the males were performing mating rituals and displaying all sorts of antics. During this they all seemed to be busy trying to outdo each other. The finale came as they started breaching again and again. Now thats the way we like to end the weekend.