2008 October | Aquatic Blue Charters

It’s been a few days since I’ve put pen to paper, but here we go:

Sunday 19th – Calm day off Coolangatta, no swell and sleepy whales, plenty about, but all in rest mode today. One breach all trip.

Mon 20th – beautiful day, no wind and a calm sea, heaps of humpback whales travelling south, no activity from the group earlier but started pectoral fin slapping mid morning. Another pod out wide breaching. We finally came across a calf breaching off Kingscliff, close into shore after being with around 5 pods for the morning, of which we had hardly any activity, once again just happy swimming along at around 4 knots.

Tues 21st – the seas were a bit more sloppy today, wind starting to build, this gave more activity from the whales, pectoral fin slapping, rolling over close to the boat, travelling all the way down to Salt Beach and back again as the whales decided to travel north again and we ended up off Cook Island. Great day out.

Wed – not trip rained and too rough

Thur – awful seas no trip

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Womn’ until another day.

PS plenty of whales coming through, believe it will be a late season going through until mid November – I have never ever seen so many whales so close or in such numbers !!! and they are in such big groups with miles and miles in between the pods !!!

What a fantastic day out watching the humpback whales today, the seas were calm and no wind and HEAPS of cows and calves travelling back home to the antarctic. We set out at 9am from the Tweed River and within 10 minutes and she yells ” WHALES”, We had four pods of whales all around Pt Danger and Cook Island, we spent the first 1/2 hour with our first cow and calf, not doing too much, so decided to move off to the other pods, the waiting game began, we followed them past Cook Island and watch three pods join up, a bit of pushing a shoving, but nothing too spectacular, these whales were not in any hurry at all, just happy swimming in a circle, possibly feeding today.

We decided to leave these pods and headed out to sea and out yonder a calf breaching – there she is and off we went. The weather was magnificant the whales – A PLENTY !! On board today we had Rod and Elisa, happy winners of voucher we donated to Camp Quality with their two sons – they sent me a couple of great pics of their day to me but unfortunately, don’t seem to be able to download them – never mind !! They enjoyed their day out with us as did everyone today and always !!! So looking at the pictures, that you can’t see, we had breaching whales today – how cool!!! Yesterday we had a cow and calf breach together – yes that’s right together – and a happy customer ‘ Lee’ captured the shot!! sorry haven’t got his pic for you either !!! So here’s a breaching whale anyway.

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow.

Wow! what a brilliant day we all had today whale watching off Coolangatta! We started with me giving the group a great pre-departure talk, reved them up for what was to be a great day, off we headed. I am often asked ‘how far out do we have to go to find the whales’ my answer ‘where ever the whales are that’s where we go’ another great questions ‘how long is it before we see whales’ again ‘can be 10 minutes, can be 1 hour – depends where they are’ another beauty ‘how do you find them, with a plane or sonar’ my answer ‘we’re good, we find them with our own eyes!!!’ people just don’t believe that one !! but it’s true !! Anyway, get on with the story !! today we didn’t have to wait too long or go too far or call in the planes !!! As we left the bar at Pt. Danger – out comes the cry ‘WHALES’ you should have seen the look on peoples faces, ‘your joking, right?, already !! where?’

From this moment on, we had a continuous flow of cows and calves throughout the entire trip, we would have viewed over 10 pods of humpback whales, nearly all cows and calves, we had one calf frighten the daylights out of us and swam right under the boat, came up for air and we are screamed, had no idea he was there along with mum and they just kept on their merry way! We had calves breaching, pectoral fin slapping with two pods joining together of cows and calves and the littlies were having a whale of a time !! breaching and tale lobbing whilst the mums watched close by, after about 20 minutes the pods split off and travelled on.

Along with this excitement off the Gold Coast this morning, we had a pod of bottlenose dolphins come to the boat and a Green Sea Turtle and plenty of flying fish, plenty of sunshine and a gentle sea – GREAT DAY OUT !!

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow

Sun 12th – What a beautiful day off Coolangatta for whale watching, the sea is calm and no wind again and HEAPS OF WHALES !!! Cows and calves and pods everywhere, not a lot of activity all on a rest day again, but great viewing anyway.

Mon 13th – calm conditions again off the Gold Coast, cows and calves coming through thick and fast now, plenty of whales again today, one pod breached and another pod breached and that was it for the day – no more entertainment from these whales – they were busy !!!!

For this time of the year, heaps of whales travelling through, seems in big groups spread over the ocean and then there is a lull – no whales for a few hours – great to see them passing by giving us heaps of enjoyment. The weather is warm and glorious out to sea a truly magical time of the year. We still have a 100% success – whales every single trip !!!!

This has been Carol the “Whale Women” until tomorrow or the next day !!

The day off Coolangatta started out a bit overcast but that didn’t deter our happy whale watchers, they were ready for action !! and action they got !!

The seas were reasonable with a slight choppy slop but no swell and NO WIND !! YEH !! We spotted whales almost immediately with one pod of humpbacks only 1/2 a mile off Pt Danger, ‘there she blows’ yells a passenger – woo up the horses – and there were a pod of two adults moving south. We spent time viewing the pair, then another pod appeared on the other side of the boat, where to look ?? Dive time was around 5-6 minutes. Then the action started, one whale with a black belly, very nice looking whale !! started breaching – what a site everyone cheered and he didn’t disappoint, off he went again and again !! Then we spotted another pod out wider pectoral fin slapping so off we trotted to be greeted by a pod of three, a calf, cow and escort happily lazing around. Then another two humpbacked joined in the fun, they started pushing each other around and really enjoying themselves – of course we just had a blast watching the action.
Plenty of whale action today and no shortage of them travelling past, on the way back in we came across more whales, about another 3 pods. A great day out and the rain held off until we were on our way back into Coolangatta giving us a light spit.

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow.

Mon 6th Oct – too rough

Tues 7th Oct – sloppy seas today off Coolangatta, whales breaching out wide, we travelled out to them and were given a great show of a pair constantly breaching, then one other humpback whale joined in the fun.

Wed 8th Oct – very very calm conditions – not a ripple, no wind either, plenty of whales today but no activity at all – having a rest day after yesterdays big seas!!! We had a fabulous green turtle this morning. One hammer head shark.

Thur 9th Oct – reasonable conditions off Coolangatta this morning, plenty of whales in fact we could see several pods in the area. Three pods with calves, active out wide but quieter in close. Conditions became sloppy from the south, but still good conditions for whale watching. We had loads of fun and enjoyed the day thoroughly.

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow

Friday 3rd October – too windy – no trip

Saturday 4th – hard to find the whales on the 9am trip, found two off Kirra but not at all active and very evasive. Did a lot of travelling today with hardly a whale!!

Sunday 5th – a reasonable sea with humpback whales off Cook Island almost immediately, not moving at all, swiming in circles around the reef. Found another two pods within 1-2 miles, two pods joined up and seemed very relaxed and happy. We spent time watching them breach, they swam alongside the boat twice, rolling over and pectoral fin slapping – made everyone’s day.

Great day out. The whales seem to be in big groups and have been like this all season, with a heap coming through and then nothing for miles and miles. Still plenty of whales about and they are not in a hurry yet, which indicates the season is in full swing with heaps more to come through.

This is has been Carol the ‘whale women’ until tomorrow

A lovely gold coast day, plenty of whales again with around 6 pods with a couple of adult whales in each pod. No calves this morning. The humpbacks were all swiming slowly, not in any hurry, one pod was very relaxed with rolling over antics, showing us his/her pectoral fin and just happy lazing around on the surface.

The whales weren’t all that far off the Coolangatta shore line, around 3-4 miles. We witnessed plenty of action out wider, with breaching pods all over the ocean – a great day out. The winds picked up in the afternoon but a nice morning.

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow

The seas are alive with the sound of WHALES !! Todays trips was simply awesome, so many whales and we had so much fun. The Gold Coast sea conditions were a little sloppy but generally good with plenty of whale action. No calves on this mornings trip. We came across around 20 whales in small pods, some joining up. We had breachings, whales close to the boat rolling over, pectoral slapping and some beautiful tails today. The whales not in a hurry off Coolangatta today, happy playing between the pods. A great day out, everyone just loved the trip and such fabulous whales – what more could you ask for !!!

This has been Carol the ‘Whale Women’ until tomorrow

Latest Pics & News