Last weekend we headed out on a tour to hopefully swim with wild dolphins, and I will post more about that in my next post because this story deserves it's own entry. While we were searching for Dolphins we saw a Humpack Whale near some sort of buoy field that appeared to be stuck. We also noticed there was another whale close by that kept surfacing. The marine specialist on board presumed them to be a mother and her calf travelling back down south. The crew alerted us that we would slowly move towards them to see if they could in some way help the whale. They started radioing for help and making sure the whale wasn't in too much distress. After a few moments it seemed that the Whale had untangled itself and was free. We were all so happy and relieved! As we started motoring away both the Whales approached our boat. This is extremely exciting because there is a law in Australia that only allows you to get within 100 meters (a reader clarified it is actually 300 meters for a mother and calf) to any whales with your boat, but if they approach you its OK. We have previously been on Whale watching tours and seen some amazing things but never ever been this close to a whale and its calf. It was unforgettable in the best way.
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| Approaching the Whale when it was tangled in the Buoy. |
Here is some Video footage we got on our iphone. It completely took us off guard or we would have grabbed a better camera for video footage!
The following are some of my favorite photos (out of hundreds) I was able to capture of these magnificent creatures. It was like they were giving us a private performance to the Humpback Whale Ballet.
Thank you to Dolphin Swim Australia and the boat crew for an incredible and unforgettable experience. We will treasure these memories for ever.
It is actually 300 metres for a female humpback and her calf.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, thank you for that clarification! I will fix that!
ReplyDeleteLove this post!! I could watch it every day.
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