Thursday 17^th October – There be whales in Hervey Bay

Calf breaching nearby.

Today was the kind of day that you never want to end and I hope that everyone gets to experience something like it at least once in their lifetime. This was the day we went whale watching in Hervey Bay, an area of sheltered water renowned for attracting pods of humpback whales as they migrate south to colder waters. Hervey Bay isn't actually a bay. The ever-inept Captain Cook sailed into these waters in 1770 and assumed that the huge sandy peninsula pointing away from the mainland must form an enormous bay. In fact the peninsula is not a peninsula at all, it's Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. Cook never bothered to check and in an attempt to curry favour with his then boss, Lord Augustus Hervey an admiral of the Blue, he named the waters Hervey (pronounced Harvey) Bay and this stuck.

Fraser Island’s position means there is a huge expanse of warm, sheltered water that is an ideal resting spot for whales as they migrate. This is particularly true for mothers with calves and, although the season is just about over, so it proved today. We spent almost 5 hours in the company of mother and calf pods. I think we encountered three in total but even the captain of the Freedom 3 couldn't be certain that we weren't meeting the same pod each time; except that is when two such pods affiliated for a short time. During each encounter the mother did little more than keep herself between the calf and our boat.

 

 

 

The calves, however, were like any other boisterous youngsters and we were treated to an almost continuous display of breaching, pectoral fin and fluke slapping as well as some moves that looked as though they had been adapted from break dancing. 

Occasionally the whales came right up to the boat and everyone fell quiet instinctively; all you could hear was the clicking of cameras and the natural sounds of the whales as they swam past. I tried to capture it on video but, as usual, only got a brief glimpse. The sound quality is dire too! Still, it was magical and Fo loved it, especially after her truly miserable whale-watching experience in Sri Lanka earlier this year when she was seasick for the entire trip. This time around the seas were reasonably calm and she looked like a seven-year-old who had found a bottomless cookie jar.

Fo with new friend Lisa. Also, Fo wearing
shorts as promised previously.

I’ve included a few of the best pictures but, to be honest, they won’t mean much. All I ever manage to capture with a camera in these situations is a fleeting glimpse of a fluke as it disappears beneath the surface. In the end, we gave up trying to capture it on film and just enjoyed it for what it was – a wonderful chance to get close to whales.


Freedom 3

Food on board was great and, as we were again in the company of our new friends Frank and Toni, we had a lot of fun. We arrived back at port in the late afternoon feeling elated and a little drowsy from too much sun. We had also built up a powerful thirst but remedied this with a few cold beers at Hoolihan's, a very friendly Irish bar well within staggering distance of our apartment.

All in all another great day and, as I mentioned at the start, one I was reluctant to bring to a close, which is why I was still up at 1.00am writing this entry. Oh well, all good things.....

Goodnight.

New friends Frank and Toni. See you in Melbourne.