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Whale Reports

New calves, “comp pod” & strange pigmentation

19/07/2022 it was a cold start to the day with a brisk cold gentle Northerly breeze blowing , the ocean was flat calm with no swell, and we headed out of Augusta Boat Harbour – straight away there was small splashing in close to shore by the old river mouth at flinders bay , so we headed that way and discovered a Mother with her new Humpack calf which was mainly grey in colour. The little one was practicing tail slapping and Breaching while mum a fully grown 15 metre Humpback lay resting …. a awesome sight to see such a young whale playing safely in the bay for all onboard.

We then decided to let the youngester enjoy playing and Mum resting so quickly moved away , our next target was a pod of 2 Humpbacks which were also resting and moving slowly at about 2 knots through the bay they were doing 6 minute breath holds and would surface close to the boat do the odd pec slap and tail slap, we sat with these 2 for most of the tour as there were plenty of whales in the area doing much the same thing with these 2 being the most interactive.

The afternoon tour started much the same way , this time with another Humpback calf which was alot more darker than the previous one , we watched this mother and calf as the calf did some close passes by the boat, we left these guys and headed seaward coming across one of the stangest pigmentations I have seen in a Humpback whale in the 12 years we have been Whale Wachting, the crew and passengers called her “Zebra” ( see pics below )

We then moved around the Abalone farm and towards Saint Alouran Island discovered in 1772 by louis de St Alouran and here we found a competion pod that were moving at 8 knots at times the 3 super sized Humpback males swam so close they almost went underneath us – all onboard got to witness – Head lunging and lots of pushing and shoving from the big males , we followed them to south east rocks before Heading back to Augusta Boat Harbour.

customer enjoying the strang pigmentation of the Humpback whale
“Zebra” the Humpback as named by our customers onboard for the black and white markings
“Zebra” the Black and White Humpback