Whale watching off Coolangatta, Australia - July 2013

Photos by Steve Triance (the cruise photographer), as my photos where not as spectacular. My digital has a short shutter delay and I sometimes missed the action. My photos were similar but not as good quality. Steve had an SLR with tonnes of lenses.

Whale watching  was a highlight of our recent holiday.

It was a very exciting experience.

Apparently the Humpbacks (these ones) are the only whales that leap (breach) from the surface like this.

We were about 4 KM off shore and watched the whales leaping every minute or so for over an hour while we were following a pod of juvenile males up the coast. They were real show offs.

The whales even swam under the boat and resurfaced in front of the bow and we could smell the air they expelled from the air hole on the top of their heads. The captain said they were unusually active on this occasion. We also had the benefit of a marine biologist on board, who gave us information about whales and their habits. I strongly suggest you take sea sickness tablets before taking a whale watching cruise. We were okay, but others did not fare as well.

We were on a three-hour round trip. The whales were still leaping as we reluctantly headed back to port. That evening we could see some whales breaching from the shore at Coolangatta, but they were a lot closer in the morning.

I went whale watching off Alaska a couple of years ago and Coolangatta was much more exciting. 

The Alaskan whales were smaller, and never breached, and only occasionally showed their tales before they dived down for several minutes.

Fare well till next time.

You can view a great action video of whales breaching at my friend's blog.