Weary from our 4.45 am start, we headed out to the 12 Apostles hoping for one of the spectacular sunsets the area is famous for. We lined up along the lookout as close as we could get to the railing, and waited. And waited. Hordes of mostly Asian tourists stomped past us, frustrating our attempts at long exposures. Even the most quite of passer- bys caused the walkway to vibrate.
Sunset came and went without much fanfare.
But wait.
What's that out about 100 m off the coast?
A shark? No, too big.
A Dolphin? No, not leaping like dolphins.
A whale? Yes!! Not only a whale but an Orca, a killer whale. A bucket list animal for me which I thought I'd never see!
The vagaries of the sunset forgiven and forgotten.
You need to enlarge to see the Orca. I took a seperate image of the whale and blended it with this one.
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Tags: FFF GOT Port Campbell September 2017 beach Killer Whale Orca 12 Apostles Great Ocean Rd Sunset CloudsStormsSunsetsSunrises Nikon D750 Nikon 24-120 Seascape Victoria Ocean Sea Rugged Coastline Cliffs Whale Great Ocean Rd Photography Workshop Focalscape Photography Tours
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Tags: Humpback Whale tail flick Sea mammal ocean Phillip Island Ocean Cruise Tamron 150-600 Nikon Nikon 750
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“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath...”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale
On our Whale Cruise at Philip Island last week, we were treated to a special encounter with a Humpback Whale. Boats are not allowed to go within 200 m of whales but if they choose to come close to the boat, then the boats can turn off-their engines and allow the whales to behave as they wish. Whales can be quite curious and this one swam in underwater quite close and then emerged right next to the boat. As you can see, it was so close I couldn't fit the tail in with my lens!
This treat almost made up for the fact that I was looking at another pair of whales and then a dolphin when the whales breached and I missed them!!
Almost.
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Scientists now believe that breaching is a form of communication used by whales.
"breaching and slapping play a role in both long-distance and close-range communication. By slamming their massive bodies into the water, the resulting sounds, like a drum, can travel enormous distances"
qz.com/902840/scientists-finally-figured-out-why-whales-l...
This makes sense but the behavior seems so joyous, I like to think it is also a celebration of freedom of life in the ocean.
I didn't see the Humpback whales breach on my recent whale watching trip so this one is from last years where I was lucky enough to see them breach twice.
Tags: August 2016 Breaching Breaching Whale Hump back Whale Phillip Island Whale Whale cruise Ocean Tamron 150-600 Nikon D750
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When I went on a whale watching trip on the weekend at Phillip Island, I knew there was a chance we would not see any whales, let alone see one breach! After a summer of feeding on krill in Antarctic waters, they migrate north to sub-tropical waters where they mate and give birth. They can be seen along the eastern Australian coast-line between April and November. Apparently, breaching is only observed in 5% of tours and only two breaches had been observed this whale watching season. It was my lucky day. I felt guilty watching it though my lens. Like many people, it is hard not be in awe of these majestic creatures and at the same time horror at the whaling industry. This Humpback whale was around 15 m in length. It is estimated that when the Australian east coast whaling industry ended in 1963, the east coast population of humpbacks had been reduced to a little over 100 individuals. The latest counts suggest around 20,000. Their recovery has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of Australia’s whale watching industry.
“The saddest sound I’ve ever heard
Is the song of the humped-back whale
His moans, his sighs, his eerie cries,
Sing a sad familiar tale
For he sighs and blows as if he knows
His race is nearly run
And that soon with all of his kind he’ll fall
Beneath the whaler’s gun’ Eric Bogle-The Song of the Whale
Tags: August 2016 Breaching Breaching Whale Phillip Island Whale Ocean Humpback Whale sea mammal Tamron 150-500 Nikon Nikon D750 WOW
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