Absolutely amazing!!
G’day Everyone
Saturday 14th: In the morning; 37 passengers, watching twelve Southern Right Whales moving in pairs very slowly, quietly waiting it seems, hushed humans on all Middleton Beach and Boardwalk lookouts, hushed humans on boats.
In the afternoon: 27 passengers floating still and silent. Sail-A-Way on a leaden ocean – no wind – no waves – no sun – no sound – and all around Southern Rights drifting closer and closer to our yacht and its people.
In slow motion – bodies just breaking the surface, the 40 – 50 tonne mammals; the whale pairs caressed, tail slapped or lay quietly side by side….except for one.
A Malaysian female student on Sail-A-Way, had been swaying from side to side – swaying her arms to a solitary Southern Right and it came to the boat. It slid to the girl and lifted its head a metre from her. The whales head was as big as a motor car. It blew….over us all and for half an hour circled…swam under us…lifted its head to inspect us all.
At our stern, Geoff the crew person, splashed the water with his hand, swirling the water to and fro like a whale’s fin, and the whale swam to the stern – head above the water, then rolled on its side and pushed its huge fin into Geoff’s hand. Geoff, with apology to the whale, pulled his hand away before the touch…recognising to touch a whale as illegal. We’ve all seen pets seek contact with humans…but a wild animals trust and seeking is very touching.
We had to hoist a sail to pull our silent boat from the whale’s company. We did not breach the 100-metre exclusion zone around whales. This whale sought human company. Marvellous!
Some passenger comments: Absolutely amazing; what an incredible and life-changing experience.. The Howell family, Bedford, New Hampshire, USA.
Cheers John
http://www.albanygateway.com.au/details/albany-whale-tours-sail-a-way-catamaran-cruises.html
Tags: Albany, things to do, whale watching, Whales
August 17th, 2010 at 10:22 am
I too managed to witness the amazing events as I was out sailing without a care in the world just heading along the coast to Oyster Harbour, I didnt even see the ones near the beach until I had actually sailed between the two laying sleepily just off the beach. Then I spotted two or three more further out just off the headland, I drifted under sail between them for around 2 hours before I had to head off back to PRSC, what a great adventure …..Steve