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Humpback Whales of Hervey Bay

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Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Whale of a time with Whalesong Cruises

Splish Splash I was taking a bath

I'd heard about the proliferation of the mighty Humpback Whales here at Hervey Bay and the very first thing I did when I got here was paddle/pedal out as far as I felt comfortable to try and find them. I traveled about 10km (just outside Moon Point) in search of these glorious gargantuans, but I wasn't able to locate them. After putting in a bit of research I soon discovered that I'd have to travel much further to get to them... too far to do so from a kayak from the township of Hervey Bay. I was determined to get as close and personal as I could, however, so my only remaining option was to go out on a whale watching tour.

As I do religiously, I put a bit of research into which tour would give me a great experience. There are many to choose from, but by talking to local tackle shops and bayside cafes I was able to narrow it down to a select few. After looking through their respective brochures and then contacting them all individually, I settled on Whalesong Cruises, largely because they responded quickly and with a friendly tone that made me think that they'd likely be equally pleasant during the trip. Not only that, but they also offer a complimentary breaky and morning tea for their AM trips, and lunch and snacks on their afternoon voyages. Free food? Thats me sold!

I turned up to the Urangan boat harbor at 7:15 AM (right after having a run in with a whale harpoon statue that drew blood - I walked straight into the business end of the harpoon while watching a large fish under the jetty) to find the crew dressed up like pirates. It was 'International speak-like-a-pirate day' they informed me, which made me feel a little less out of place with blood running down my face. I was one of the first aboard, so I did a quick tour of the boat, inspecting the lower and upper decks, bow and stern. There was plenty of room to move, which would suit my photograph ambitions nicely - even with a large posse of school children aboard. The pirate day theme went down really well with the kids... even the big ones.

Bottlenose Dolphin saying hello to Whalesong Cruise boat

As the cruiser pulled out of the harbor I settled in at the top deck to have a chat with skipper Jason Brigden and it didn't take long for the conversation to find it's way to the topic of kayaking and fishing. Keen on doing both, Jason started picking my brains about fishing kayaks and I returned the favour by picking his brains about where I might find whatever kind of wildlife. I was interested in fish species, dugongs, whales (of course), sharks and dolphins. Speaking of dolphins, we were no more than a kilometer out of the harbor before being visited by an active pod of the bottlenose variety.

At the beginning of the cruise the crew provide an informative talk on various facts on humpback whales and it's well worth listening to. By the time their done you're really drooling to see them in action. Throughout the cruise they often comment on some of the activity that is being observed, which gives participants a better insight into what the whales are really doing, and why. Along the way the keen-eyed skipper will point out anything he sees, including pod locations, as well as dolphin, turtle or dugong sightings. So even if you're not terribly observant (I can tell you most of the kids weren't) you can rest assured the crew won't let you miss anything worthwhile.

I suppose this is why they're called Humpback whales

Some 20km and 30 minutes later we were face to face with the first (of many) pod of humpback whales. As always, it was an awesome sight to behold, even though the calm waters seemed to have a sedating effect on them. They weren't breaching playfully, more so just cruising leisurely along the water surface. The skipper seemed intent on locating a more active pod, however, so soon after he continued on in a northward direction to find them. As he did so I listened closely to the radio chatter between the various whale tour operators on the water. Although there were plenty of pods about, it seemed like they were all in siesta mode.

I took advantage of the free food in between sightings, feasting myself on party pies, toasted sandwiches, kiesh (yes, some men do eat it) and coffee. They were all power snacks, however, because pod sightings were many and every time it happened, I was out there taking photos. There were a lot of compact cameras in use but most on board were jealous of my camera, which responds quickly and allows me to take hundreds of shots in RAW format. Most of the time I was shooting in continuous mode, so I didn't miss much at all. I did, however, do a poor job of capturing good photos of one particular whale, which was breaching the water for a short time.

Nosy bugger aren't ya!

I also managed to film a quick video on my compact camera, which gives a pretty good impression of how lazy most of the whales were this day. Although not as explosive as they often get, the gracefulness is portrayed perfectly and is well worth viewing. I'll be watching it again from time to time, which will let me relive the experience over and over.

Tail of a whale

Jason did mention that as a general rule of thumb, calms days like today did seem to have an equally calming effect on the whales. Thats worth remembering if you come to Hervey Bay for a fishing holiday (make sure you do). If and when the wind picks up and you decide that perhaps it's not such a great day for fishing, make that day your opportunity to go whale watching, as it will likely result in more active pods.

As previously mentioned, there are various operators in the area and certainly no shortage of businesses acting as agents for them. My advice is to contact them direct and cut out the middle man. You'll get all the right information straight from the horses mouth, instead of a quick sales pitch from someone just looking to get their %. As for my experience, I can highly recommend Whalesong Cruises. Not only will you have a whale of a time, you'll also get yourself a free feed. You won't be dissapointed. For more information on Humpback Whales, check out this page at Whalesong Cruises.