Saturday 13th

6 pods with 12 whales, found the first pod by 9.25, today we had whales going north and south all around 1.5 miles off Coolangatta.  We had some tail lobbing from a whale going south, a couple of pods with single whales going north, we left these guys a bit quiet and headed out to the 5 mile mark where we found a pod of 5 whales chasing each other, going in circles. Whales everywhere, on the way back in we had one whale going north pec slapping off Cook Island.  Great morning.

This afternoon, 4 pods with 9 whales, first pod straight off the bar, one single going south and a diver, so we left him and headed out to breaching whales and some fantastic whale action with a pod of 4 chasing each other all over the show, we had 3 whales breaching one after the other right in front of the boat – OMG!!!! this pod was amazing with some great whales – AGAIN!!

Sunday 14th

5 pods with 7 whales in the morning, first pod by 9.25, we headed out 6 miles off Kirra to whales splashing around, pec slapping, very lazy whales with not a worry in the world as they rolled around not far from the boat, we left the pair and found another pod or two, all whales going south, had dolphins today.

This afternoon we had 6 pods and 12 whales, first pod going north just off the bar, next pod going south about 4.5 miles off the bar, breaching and pec slapping, pods were now joining together and plenty of whales out wider, double breaching just in front about 500 meters, one whale came really close to the boat and kept on going, he was on a mission to get home, then going south a cow and a calf, first one for the year.  One pod very very quiet in the water, just lazing around near the boat.

Beautiful day all round.

Monday 15th

My words – AWESOME DAY !!

We had 8 pods and 13 whales and the first pod by 9.20am, one whale going south breaching just off the bar, another pod 1 mile off the bar going south, another pod 1.5 miles off the bar going south and a whale continuously breaching and breaching and breaching, pec slapping next to the boat, breached in front of the boat, back of the boat, next to the boat – OMG!! what a whale!!, we left him and found plenty of more whales around that 5 miles off shore, we then found two juveniles going north breaching together just off the bar at Coolangatta – what a great day.

Tuesday 16th

9 pods of whales with 15 whales – so many whales, first pod by 9.25am, breaching whales off Tugun around 5 miles off shore a pod of 3, one adult, one juvenile and this years calf going south, plenty of whales going south, breaching off Palm Beach, we had two green sea turtles – awesome.

Wednesday 17th

OMG!! The best day so far this year with whales MUGGING the boat, we had 4 whales, we suspect one female being chased by 3 males, they swam around the boat, under the boat, in front, behind, just awesome with them spy hopping so close to the boat up the front, they rolled over, they raced around the boat – what a show, they breached in front of the boat, just sensational stuff – AGAIN!!

This afternoon’s trip was fantastic too, with well over 20 whales, at one stage we had 5 pods around the boat all about 100 meters off from the right side of the boat at 9 o’clock through to 3 o’clock, for those of you that have been on the boat you know what I am talking about here with the time and for those who haven’t been – best get yourself on our boat – it is their location in the water to the boat ie: 12 o’clock being directly ahead of the boat and 6 o’clock directly behind the boat etc.  What a day – what a day – I was so excited this morning with my whales coming so close that I had almost lost my voice from the joys of screaming coming from my mouth.

Thursday 18th – too windy did not go out today

Thursday 4th

The morning trip gave us 5 pods with 7 humpbacks, with our first pod by 9.20am all around that 4-5 miles off the bar, whales going both ways today, not overly active this morning with some tail flicks and a couple of pods diving.  Put hydrophones over and could them singing. 

The afternoon trip we had so many whales, around 10 pods and 18 whales and most of them going south with only a couple of pods going north, the south bound whales were all juveniles.  Had terns and green sea turtles today.

Friday 5th

4 pods this morning with 13 humpbacks and a fair way out today, around 8 miles and big big whales chasing each other, fantastic stuff to watch with plenty of breaching and pec slapping – HEAPS GOOD !!!  One pod had 7 whales, they came near the boat whilst chasing the girls !!  Had flying fish today – FANTASTIC DAY

Saturday 6th

6 pods with 8 whales in total, whales in single pods, calm going north and then they started breaching one after the other, mostly the singles breaching and a couple of pods heading south.  We had dolphins today – Great Day

Sunday  7th

6 pods with around 9 whales all around 8 miles out to sea, didn’t get them till 9.45am today but well worth the wait with heaps of breaching, heaps and heaps and all whales going north – great morning

7 pods in the afternoon with 13 whales all whales going north again and out wide again, great arvo with heaps of breaching and chasing going on

Monday 8th

6 pods, first pod by 9.30am with 9 whales around 5 miles off Coolangatta, whales going in circles today, juveniles, whales everywhere all around us and nice and calm with tail lobbing, some tail flicking, great morning – AGAIN

Tuesday 9th

5 pods, first pod 9.25am with 10 whales around 4 miles off Burleigh, whales heading south and north today, all pods 4-5 miles out to sea.  Tail lobbing and breaching.  Had a little sea lion today sunning himself, we think he was asleep, had his little fins pointed to the air, head turned in rest position and floated right by the boat, he then heard us and woke up and scooted off – what a treat.

  Our little sea lion asleep – cute

Wednesday 10th

4 pods, with 13 whales – first pod by 9.40am 6 miles of Surfers going in circles, we had three for ages and then we could see another larger pod coming our way – well what a treat – a pod 6 just happily playing together not far from our first pod of 3, we had whales everywhere, they were rolling over, tail lobbing, diving and just having fun.  One of the whales had a curled tail, I will put a picture up of him, very unusual, didn’t seem to affect him at all and an older whale too.  As we were coming back to Coolangatta we had a couple of pods with last years calves in them and weren’t they going off, breaching heaps and heaps – what a great day – AGAIN !!!

  Curly our whale with the curled tail

Thursday 11th

4 pods with 7 whales, a couple of juveniles breaching off Coolangatta by 9.15am, breaching around the boat, one of them breached 20 meters in front of the boat – wow!! what a treat that was, of course no one got a photo, cause we didn’t even know he was there so we weren’t ready for that one !!!.  We left this pair and headed out to more breaching whales out wider and they were fantastic, one of these whales was black, plenty of pec slapping, breaching, rolling over – heaps good – heaps good, all whales going south

Friday 12th

6 pods with first pod by 9.20am and a real treat this morning a mum and bub about 1.5 miles off Coolangatta – BRAND NEW BABY – and wasn’t mum racing – so fast don’t know how the bub could keep up, but he was, she eventually slowed down after 20 minutes – poor bub would have been plum tucked out !!!  We left them and headed out to 3 miles to more whales heading north with tail flicks and breaching, this pod split and one headed out to more whales out wider.  We headed south and could see whales out wider breaching madly, had heaps of pods in closer off Coolangatta breaching – great show

The afternoon trip gave us heaps of whales, first pod by 2.15am, heaps and heaps of breaching, tail lobbing and all whales going south and rather quickly but heaps of breaching.  Another great show

Great day all round

2 pods of whales with 3 whales in total, first pod by 9.20am – 3 miles off the bar – breaching and the second pod of one whale a juvenile breaching as well.  This whale tail flicked, rolled over and put on a pretty good show

5 pods with 8 whales, first pod by 9.20am.  First two pods were divers – no fun here!  But we searched for more whales and found one whale around 9.50am that breached and then dived!!  He was about 8 miles off shore.  Another whale was going SOUTH !!! and he too a diver, then finally at 10.45am two whales going north happy on the surface and happy to be near the boat as they came for a better look and just happy to swim along

4 pods of whales with 6 whales, first pod by 9.20am.  Had our first whale going SOUTH !!! Can’t believe it – it is far too early – but there he was going for his life south !!  Pod 2 was breaching on the horizon, pod 3 at 10.05am breaching heaps, we followed this pair till around 11am, they tail flicked, tail lobbed, came under the boat, breached at back of boat, came next to boat – what a great pair!!  Then we came across another pod of 2 and they joined this pod and they all came close to the boat !!

The afternoon trip we had 5 pods, first pod by 2pm, and the first 4 pods were all divers, no fun there !! and then we had a pod of 2 at 3pm and what a treat – they were very happy whales spending time on the surface for us, happily pec fin slapping next to the boat, here is a photo – isn’t he beautiful?  You can just see the other whale behind him – great pair of whales

First pod by 9.25am. 4 pods of whales with 8 whales all travelling around 4 kts which is their average speed and we had one black whale, we see this whale each year or at least a few black whales, normally our southern hemisphere whales have a white underbelly, this whale had a black one – special indeed!! and he was our breaching whale today.  At one stage we had all pods around the left – front – right sides of the boat and spent most of the morning with 3 pods.  Whales came close to the boat several times, rolled over, pec fin slapped and some lazy breaches and some tail lobs – great whales today.  Had one dolphin, sea birds and one flying fish!!

The pm trip we had 5 pods with 12 whales overall.  First pod by 2pm with one whale giving us a great show nearly all trip, he was fantastic – a large pod of dolphins joined him and he chased these dolphins everywhere OR was he playing with them????  He entertained himself for over an hour with the dolphins – a great show for us!  He tail flicked, rolled over with the dolphins.  A surprise from and Eagle Ray jumping out of the water twice – a real treat, sea birds (Prions).

Great Day

Found our first pod by 9.30am then didn’t see this pod again, divers, spent a fair bit of time trying to see them again, but gave up and headed off further north to other pods.  We had two pods close together, 2 in one pod and 3 in the other, eventually they joined up and were chasing each other, a bit of mating behaviour going on here.  The pod eventually slowed up and one of the whales doing the chasing turned around and headed south to a single whale that had just come to the boat, rolled over and had a big look at us with his big eye!!  This whale was also heading south, then north, then south, a bit confused and eventually the two single whales joined.

We had one Green Sea Turtle, heaps of dolphins today, common terns, non breeders.  One Albatross and Ganets and heaps and heaps of Prions resting on the water.

Plenty of whales about but not at all active, no breaching today.

No trips for these days as the sea was too rough

7 pods with 9 humpbacks in total - found our first pod by 9.20am – 8 miles off shore – pods in closer at 5 miles with a couple of pods together, whales breaching behind the boat, more whales in closer at 4 miles with whales pec fin slapping, plenty of whales about again. 

At around 11am we visited a pod of two humpbacks who came straight over to the boat and boy was everyone excited – this pair of curious whales DOUBLE SPY HOPPED the boat (that’s when they poke their big heads straight up out of the water and they did it together) everyone was screaming with joy by now and then they did it again, one of them so high his head was level with ours !! Oh my god that was FANTASTIC – then they rolled over right next to the boat, in front of the boat, under the boat and kept coming back to the boat and then finally they had seen enough of us and went on their merry way – we all stood there in total amazement – did that just happen? I was so excited I jumped all over the deck with joy and everyone was so happy with their up close and personal experience with these amazing humpback whales – a whale watching experience that everyone will remember – AWESOME once again

This has been Carol the Whale Women until next post

Whale Sightings Report Saturday 16th July 2011 – too rough and wet didn’t go out today

Whale Sightings Report Sunday 17th July 2011

A great day out on the water this morning with 3 pods of Humpback Whales to entertain us, all whales around that 6 miles off shore again, travelling slow and not active.  We then left these two pods who were having a snooze or the Sunday off and headed out to a pair of Humpbacks double breaching at the 8 mile mark – what a show with so many breaches – together too!! and pec fin slapping, they came to the boat and rolled over for us and continued to show off around the boat – WHAT A SHOW – great morning.

The afternoon trip didn’t disappoint either with 7 pods with 14 whales, found whales pretty much straight away off Cook Island, but very quiet in the water, having a rest day, but we had another pod breaching off Cook Island and another pod to keep us entertained, so off we went to see those whales.  We had a very friendly pair of whales that came straight to the boat, swam under us, in front, behind and around us having a great look at us – what beautiful humpbacks they were as we spent around 30 minutes with them – FANTASTIC

On the way home we came across another 4 pods – all quiet – GREAT DAY

Monday 18th July 2011

6 pods of humpbacks with 11 whales in total – found our first pod by 9.25am around 4 miles off shore, very quiet whales, but then we had one humpback same distance off shore breaching, stayed with this single whale for 30 minutes.  Then another 4 pods during the morning with tail lobbing and pec fin slapping – a very very nice morning indeed with plenty of whales about.  Todate we have seen some 484 whales since the 29th May on our trips.

Tuesday 19th July 2011

7 pods with 15 whales, found our whales by 9.30am in closer today but very quiet and divers, so left them and joined other pods which were all in a big group spread over a small distance, at one stage we had 7 whales all swimming together and then 2 more joined in now we had 9 – great to see so many whales together and then the last pod of 2 whales started breaching and on this day we had the Tweed Daily News onboard and we made the front page of the paper on Wednesday with these beautiful whales – WHAT A DAY – awesome stuff here off the Gold Coast

Wednesday 20th July 2011

8 pods with 10 whales, finding our first pod at 9.25am – 5 miles off shore – first few pods very very quiet, all swiming quietly and not active, plenty of them though and then we hit the jackpot with pod number 6 with two whales breaching around the boat, rolling over next to the boat, swiming under the boat – FANTASTIC