Currently on the Eco-cruise, Green turtles are seen with regularity, grazing on seagrass and surfacing to breathe and take a curious look at the Eco-Cruise boat and guests before disappearing with a splash.  Spotted eagle rays slowly cruise the shallow waters, and shovelnose rays have been seen camouflaged underneath the sand and darting away across the sandbanks.  En route to our chosen destinations for the day, pods of Inshore Bottlenose dolphins are seen in the deeper water.  This time of year, these pods consist of several  mother and calf pairs that are extremely playful occasionally frollick at the bow of the Eco-cruise vessel.  The dugong remains elusive, with only a handful of sightings over the past month.  These shy creatures are glimpsed surfacing for a quick breath before disappearing into the depths.  Hopefully the herds of dugongs will return for the upcomming months!

Storm our little 5 year old male dolphin did not arrive at the feed last night.  Staff were not too worried because these dolphins are wild, and if they have better things to do like hunting or chasing the other dolphins around the bay, they may not attend the programme.  Although we always have some dolphins attend the nightly programme, we may not see some of the dolphins, especially the males for a night or two and occasionally we may not see them for up to 6 weeks.

As Storm is a juvenile male dolphin, he has not established any really close bonds with other male dolphins quite yet, although when Storm reaches maturity in approx 4 years, he will form his own male alliances.  This means that Storm will spend most of his time with the other male dolphins.  In dolphin societies, the dolphins generally hang out in 3 different groups.  They are:  (1) adult males, (2) mothers and their calves (which stay together for 3-6 years) and  (3) young males who have not yet reached reproductive maturity.   Adult males and females may gather together to mate, while the young males (like Storm) remain isolated until they reach maturity.

Prior to the Dolphin Feed last night, a 10 kg Yellow Tail Kingfish swam through the dolphin feed area past Shadow a 15 year old female dolphin who is a very efficient and skilled hunter.  As the fish swam past Shadow, she sprang out from under the jetty and caught it.  Shadow then took the Kingfish to the bottom of the sea floor to break its head off and spent the next 30 mintues tearing large chunks out of the fish and eating it.  Yelllow Tail Kingfish are fast swimming pelagic fish that tend to inhabit areas no further north than Fraser Island.  Good one Shadow!!!

In late October, Tangles had been absent from the Dolphin Feed for several nights running.  We were not too worried about this as Tangles is a wild dolphin.  Tangles turned 9 years of age in September of this year and has reached sexual maturity, so it's possible she was being herded by the other male dolphins in Moreton Bay to breed.  This is all part of dolphins societies, so there is a chance that Tangles may be pregnant, we'll just have to wait and see.  In Moreton Bay, dolphins can become pregnant when they turn 9 years old, the gestation period is 12 months, therefore they will give birth to their first born calf when they are approximately 10 years olds.

   Dolphins mating in Moreton Bay

The last four months have flown by and we're sad to say that whale watching is officially at an end for 2009. With some absolutely incredible sightings and  more than a few photos, we hope next year's season is just as amazing. Here's hoping the whales have a peaceful trip down to their Antarctic feeding grounds.

  
A female humpback whale waving to
onlookers with her impressive flipper!

October has brought some amazing sights out on the whale watches, with mums and calves and lots of activity! Those of us on the cruise last Friday were lucky enough to see a mum and her beautiful baby breaching simultaneously, rolling about in the water. An amazing display for onlookers, the huge female then started to teach the tiny calf to slap his (or her!) tail against the water.

We also spotted a pod of the elusive Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins out on the whale watch this week, a truly rare sight for this part of Moreton Bay. These shy, pale dolphins typically inhabit areas close to shore or river mouths, and are generally a lot harder to find than their larger bottlenose cousins.

  
An Indo-Pacific Humpback
Dolphin (courtesy of Cetacean Society International).

Shadow celebrated her 15th birthday yesterday! Tinkerbell's younger sister and mother to two adorable calves (Silhouette, 5 & Zephyr, 1) Shadow is one of the cheekiest and most vocal of the dolphins at Tangalooma, often whistling, clicking and buzzing during the feed. We all wish Shadow a very happy birthday and hope her 15th year is full of fish!

We've been getting great attendance over the last few weeks at the dolphin feed, with our mature males making regular appearances and flirting with some of our females. As Tangles celebrated her 9th birthday just last month, she's fast becoming mature and it's no surprise the boys are giving her lots of attention!

Calf season has well and truly hit Tangalooma! Every Whale Watch this week spotted the adorable baby humpback whales cruising along side their mothers. Most of these whales will be south-bound now, making their way slowly back to the rich feeding grounds of the Antarctic, but not before we get to see the playful young calves making the most of the warm conditions - rolling on their backs, breaching, and curiously investigating our boat.

We even spotted a mum and calf on Thursday's Eco-Cruise! While looking for dugongs, guests and crew alike were pleasantly surprised when the two whales popped up beside our Explorer vessel, well within the calm shallow waters of the bay.

What a week!

  
Spectacular sights this week.

Most of the dolphins have been visiting the feed more regularly once more; Bobo has been absent for quite a few weeks but as usual we just think he has better things to do! It's great to see Echo, Rani and Nari here again and doing so well: hunting and socialising with our females and the one year old calves.

Interestingly, we've also had quite a few unidentified dolphins visiting the feed, interacting and in some cases trying to mate with our female dolphins. With spring arriving and the weather getting warmer, we often see a peak in mating behaviour. As female dolphins are pregnant for 12 months, giving birth to their little calves in the warmer conditions gives them a better chance of survival. Here at Tangalooma, we don't feed these casual visitors, and after a few minutes of interaction they usually move off into the darkness in search of more females.

  
Shadow cheekily catches an
octopus lurking beneath
the jetty.

Thar she blows! What a week! The whales have been incredibly active: waving their pectoral flippers about, rolling onto their backs and breaching right out of the water. Reaching lengths of up to 15 metres, seeing these amazing giants leap clear of the surface is a humbling experience.

But it's the dugongs that have truly stolen the show this week; on Thursday we witnessed one of the largest herds all year drifting contentedly past our Explorer vessel, numerous mother and calf pairs amongst them! Being such a still day, we could even hear these slow-moving marine mammals as they came to the surface to breathe.

   
 These strange sea-cows can reach up to 400kgs
in weight!

Finally! Echo and Rani returned to the feed on Friday night, after almost a month's absence! Both of the boys are looking exceptionally well, Rani with a few fresh rake marks (no doubt from his encounters with other males while he's fighting over the females!) and Echo as curious as ever.

September is an exciting month for the Dolphin Care Team, with three of the dolphins celebrating their birthdays! Silhouette is turning 5 years old today, while her cousin Tangles is turning 9 a little bit later in the month. But who could forget the little pocket rocket Zephyr, turning just 1 year old on the 17th of September!?

Happy Birthday guys!

Yet another week rolls past with no sightings of Echo or Rani! Our other two boys, Nari and Bobo, have made the occasional appearance, but it may be quite a while before they start attending the feed regularly once more.

While some strong winds make it a little bit wet for us, the dolphins are having a great time, surfing in the shallow waves and hunting fish underneath the jetty. The calves, Zephyr and Phoenix, have been especially playful, catching puffer fish on a nightly basis and hurling them to one another just like a tennis ball!

  
One of our calves playfully tosses a
puffer fish into the air.