Whale watching

Today I went on a cruise to watch whales, which are migrating along the coast of the Sunshine Coast. The trip started at 8 o’clock in the morning, after a few safety rules and instructions we started sailing towards the open ocean. The trip was supposed to take place on Sunday, however due to bad weather the trip was rescheduled. However, I can assure you the weather was still not very friendly the day we took the cruise.

When we left the Mooloolah river mount and passed the last breakwaters, the real adventure began. The swell (the distance in which the wind picks up the water and creates waves) was very big and the wind and waves were enormous. The crew advised us to stay seated an all times, although standing up was the last thing I was thinking about. Because of the large waves, an enormous amount of spray (water) came over the front of the boot. Resulting in wet cloths within 5 minutes we left the harbour. After we sailed towards open sea, we spotted some whales. It was a Humphrey grey back whale, a mother and her calf. We followed those whales for about 2,5 hours and it was sometimes quite difficult to see them, because they were almost the same colour as the water. When they took a breath or lift their tail it was possible to see them very clearly. They also came very close to the boot (around 50 meters). Those whales were travelling towards Antarctica, where they are surviving the summer, during winter they go back towards the northern waters to give birth to their calves. If they would do that in the cool waters of Antarctica (around 5/6 degrees), the calf would die from the cold. The whales are swimming close to shore because then they are better able to protect their child against killer whales. The tactic of the killer whales is that they attack with a group, they bully the mother for a long time until she is too tired to deferent her calf anymore. 

This trip was very nice and we could see the whales up close, although because of the heavy waves, many people were seasick. Nevertheless, it was amazing to see such big animals so close.