The first few days of our Busselton Whale Watching in Geographe Bay season have really set the bar HIGH! We have been MUGGED by humpback whales of all age and sizes for the majority of our 2 hour tours and haven’t had to venture far from the shore at all!
We have had three encounters of Dwarf Minke whales passing the boat which is extremely rare! With one exceptionally special occasion where the (usually skittish) 4-5m whale rolled upside down and circled the boat multiple times enabling us to get a great view of the cute little creature, which is also a FIRST for us! The waters have been extremely calm and glassy most days, creating incredible visibility deep into the water column which has enabled us to see these giants of the deep rise to the surface (so we can prepare for those perfect shots!) On the Busselton whale watching tours we have also had bow riding dolphins on most tours which is always a nice little cherry on top after endless close encounters by our adult humpbacks! We are yet to see a southern right whale from the vessel so far this season and we look forward to the day!
We also encountered a small humpback (only 1-2 years old) with a recent wound which seems to be the doing of killer whales as the rake markings around the flesh wound and scarring resemble orca teeth marks! The poor juvenile has its dorsal fin missing and is still pink, indicating that the attack wasn’t too long ago! We have had multiple confirmed orca sightings off Cape Naturaliste and all the way to Bunbury and even Perth now and they seem to be following the humpback migration in the attempt to seperate mother/calf pairs whilst they target the calves in order to break their jaw and only eat the tongue! Luckily this little guy got away and it may have been due to another larger humpback whale stepping in to defend the youngster! We hope this little guy heals and makes it back to the Antarctic feeding grounds!
Lastly, we had our first sightings of BLUE WHALES in the bay for the season on yesterdays afternoon tour! The awesome whale monitoring crew at Point Picquet were kind enough to give us the heads up that there was potentially a blue swimming past them, the large column-like blow and sleek body was a great indicator! We came across the blow which turned out to be TWO BLUES cruising past the Cape! These 25m+ animals are an awe inspiring sight and we can’t wait to keep you up to date with next weeks whale summary!!! It’s been a great first week in Geographe Bay!
