Whale Watching 2016 Season - Wrapped Up
Tangalooma's 2016 whale watching season was the most successful season ever, with over 1,000 Humpback whales sighted form June to October! The Tangalooma Jet cruised to the top of Moreton Island to witness the migration of over 21,000 South Pacific Humpback Whales travelling from Antarctica to North Queensland. While on their migration, the Humpback Whales displayed all sorts of incredible behaviours, below the water and more excitingly, out of the water! But it wasn't just whales that we saw, the season included Inshore Bottlenose and Common dolphins, Turtles, Hammerhead sharks and Manta Rays!
The Whale Watching season started off with juvenile whales heading north with endless tail slaps and on many occasions the whales were doing pectoral waves to the guests on board the Tangalooma Jet. It was the larger adult whales that were next to come up from the south, with the females getting up to 15 metres long, it is truly an amazing sight to see them in their natural environment. Even more amazing was when the whales breach out of the water, an unforgettable sight that was easily the crowd favourite for the season. However, the newborn calves were just as incredible and awe inspiring, to witness a newly born calf alongside its mother travelling through Moreton Bay makes for a memorable moment.
Top 5 moments:
First Calf for the season
Was an amazing moment when the Tangalooma whale watching cruise saw the first newborn calf for the season. Just off Cape Moreton a fully grown female was spotted, as we slowly approached a significantly smaller shadow could be seen. Then the little whale surfaced, being only around 3 metres long and a greyish colour, we had seen the first calf for the 2016 season!
Double Breach
Definitely a crowd favourite and my top moment, was the double breach. The cruise spotted two active Humpback whales south of Cape Moreton that seemed to mimicking each others behaviour. The Tangalooma Jet came up alongside them and then out of no where the two adults breached at the same time!
Breaching calf
Mothers and calves display all sorts of behaviours, from resting, nursing and logging. However, the best is when a Humpback whale calf attempts a breach out of the water! The little ones are sometimes full of energy and will do several breaches till they have used up all their energy.
Whales in Moreton Bay
As the south pacific Humpback whale population increases, more and more whales are getting spotted closer to coast lines and in the bays along the east coast of Australia. This season we had the most ever spotted in Moreton Bay, just out the front of the Tangalooma Island Resort. Some people were even lucky enough to see them passing by the Tangalooma wrecks.
1000th whale
As mentioned earlier, we had the most successful season ever this year with over 1000 whales spotted! Achieving this milestone meant two things, it is a great indicator that the Humpback Whale population is steadily increasing, and with Tangalooma Island resort donating $5 for every whale sighted towards the Kids Cancer Project, it meant a total donation of just over $5000 to a great foundation.