Whale Watching

Clinton heard from colleagues at work that there were humpback whales currently in our local seas.  The whales migrate from the southern ocean to the warm northern waters to breed during winter and then return south in November to the colder seas. The whales follow the continental shelf, staying close to the coast of the Indian Ocean. You can therefore see them just off the shore and we didn't want to miss this opportunity to see whales as they pass through the Pilbara coast.

 

On Saturday morning I was at a baby shower and didn't get home until 12.45pm. So as soon as I got home we prepared the boat and launched by about 2pm. We went a fair distance, passing many of the little islands that make up the Dampier Archipelago on our way. We spotted lots of pristine little beaches that we're keen to go back to and explore in the future.

 

We had been cruising for a while and both Alissa and Sienna fell asleep on me. I was starting to think we weren't going to see any whales. Then Clinton spotted a large turtle swimming along, unfortunately it dived under the water before I could catch a photo of it. Clinton was saying he might turn around and then Harrison saw our first whale! He was so excited to be the one to see it first. We steered the boat closer and discovered that there were two whales and later we noticed there was a baby with them too.

 

Excuse my hair...the boat was going pretty fast!  

Harrison spotting our first whale! He was so excited!

 It is hard to capture how massive these humpback whales really were. They were easily as wide as the boat and the boat is 2.5 metres. We only saw the top of the whales but could see how big they were under the water. I was a little afraid of getting too close but Clinton wanted to jump in the water with his go pro and film them underwater. 

Watching and filming the whales

 

My favourite photo that Clinton took of a whale blowing water out of its blowhole.

Sienna was fascinated by the whales

 

We then saw a sea snake and tried to get a quick photo for Trent before continuing to follow the whales.

 This was the smallest whale in the group and we think it was a baby.

 

As we cruised around we saw at least 6 whales - it was such an extraordinary experience getting up close to these mammoth creatures. The weather was so beautiful and the sea was so calm, it was incredible! 

 

 

 It got to about 4.30pm and we thought we better head back to the boat ramp as the tide gets very low and you can get stuck and have to wait until the tide rises to get your boat out! The light was beautiful as the sun started to go down.

 

 Harrison drove the boat for a while on the way back

Alissa and Sienna fell asleep on the way back to the boat ramp, again!

When we arrived at the boat ramp there was a line of boats waiting to use the ramp. The tide was getting very low by the time we pulled our boat out. If we had missed the tide we would have had to wait until 9.30 for the tide to rise again.

It was such a beautiful day!