Its the height of the Spring migration for several species of Whale here in South Australia,humpbacks and Southern Right Whales being the most often seen, Humpbacks often seen with young calves on their way to the Summer feeding grounds in the seas off Antarctica, they hug the southern Australian coast and stop here and there to rest and if there is food available, to feed as well before continuing the long journey south!
Hunting Whales has been given over to watching them along the coast with old Whaling ports like Eden and nearby Merimbula both supporting a cottage industry of Whale watching boats, these vessels are often Game fishing boats that "double up" for the migration season before going back to angling charters once the seas have warmed up in early December!
Mary, Mike and I went on a charter out of Eden yesterday in almost perfect conditions, in the four hours or so that we were at sea we saw some amazing close ups of both feeding and migrating Whales culminating in the sighting of a huge individual "breaching" (leaping clear of the water) the whole experience was very humbling seeing these great ocean dwellers going about their business, oblivious to the fact that they were being exploited by a boat full of human interlopers! the pictures on today's blog are the results of this trip.

Labels: Oz