Monday 17th - Whale watching then on to Mooloolaba
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Mon 17 Sep 2018 16:00
26 40.833S
153 31.317E
We had an early start, the bus from Tasman Venture picking us up at 7:40. It was overcast and blowing quite hard so we were glad of our fleeces. Everybody was bagging the outside seats but we headed down to the warm saloon and claimed a couple of comfy seats as we were sure others would be heading inside later in the trip.
We headed out of the marina into the chop and the boat increased speed up to 21 knots. We headed out into the huge bay formed by the expanse of Fraser Island to the east and the mainland to the south and west.
It wasn’t long before we spotted our first humpback whales, and from then on it seemed we could see whales wherever we looked. Mostly it was mother and calf pairs sometimes with an escort. We looked for the telltale blow as they exhaled but often huge splashes showed us where they were. Lots of tail slapping, rolling over and slapping of pectoral fins and also quit a lot of breaching. Mostly it seemed to be the calves doing the breaching. It wasn’t easy to get good pictures but I managed to get a few on the iPhone and more on my Nikon which I’ll post later.
The whales are here in the relatively shallow bay on their way back south to the Antarctic after giving birth at the north end of the barrier reef. Maybe they stop here for a while to allow the calves to gain strength and learn some skills before heading into more dangerous waters.
It was a great, if breezy, morning and we headed back in flat water close to the beach in the shelter of Fraser Island.
We had booked two nights at the caravan park but when we got back we realised there was nothing to keep us in Hervey Bay so we decided to press on and headed for Mooloolaba, just north of Brisbane, on friend Grenville’s recommendation.
Coast of Fraser Island
Whale watching boat
Another whale watching boat - similar to the one we are on - Tasman Venture
Not a bad shot for an iPhone!
Will post more later, taken on Nikon, this in iPhone
