Posts Tagged ‘whale watching cruise’

Mid whale watching season 2014 Getaway Sailing and the New Zealand Herald spent some time together with the Humpback whales on the ocean in front of Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Anne Gibson was our guest and the Humpbacks did not disappoint. We were treated to a spectacular show of breaching, pectoral slapping with a mother and calf. The following story is written by Anne of her time spent on “Eau De Vie” with the whales.

In the fourth story in a series on Queensland, Anne Gibson keeps her eyes

We are now into the 3rd week of the Gold Coast whale watching season passing us on their annual migration along the east coast of Australia. Getaway Sailing has had a 100% sighting success rate in the 5 years we have been operating Gold Coast whale watching tours. This season we still have that 100% success. I have conducted 5 whale watching tours to date this season with humpbacks and dolphins on all of these tours.

Gold Coast Whale Watching
Getaway Sailing on the Gold Coast

Some footage from this season

Last Sunday we were treated to an amazing event! Whilst sailing home from a whale watching tour we came across a humpback whale calf feeding on Coral spawn. The coral spawn trail was about 7 NM east of the Gold Coast Seaway, around 300 meters across and at least 1NM long.

 Coral Spawn Drifting with the wind 7 NM ENE of the Gold Coast Seaway

The humpback whale calf was born this season along the Queensland coast line and was traveling with it’s mother (known as the cow)

Whales have been increasing in number off the the NSW North coast. Byron Bay is one of the best places to view humpback whales from land. The headland with the light house is the eastern most point of Australia and is a cliff face high above the waters edge.This gives us the closest possible land based platform to view these majestic animals. A recent dive boat heading out to Julian Rock was fortunate to come across humpbacks heading north and they took these photos. For the full story

Whales have been spotted off the Gold Coast to start the 2013 Humpback migration. Locals and visitors have been sighting whales from their highrise apartments for the last 10 days. The frequency of whale sightings is increasing daily as the pods of humpbacks start to cruise past our beaches for the 2013 Gold Coast Whale Watching Season. We are in a fortunate geological position where these majestic creatures pass our door for the next 6 months either heading north at the start of the season or heading south from around

Gold Coast Whale Watching Season

better than ever this year!!

No 3 NM limit any more

The Queensland state government has changed the whale watching regulations which banned commercial whale watching tour operators from stopping and viewing whales within 3 nm of the main land. The first 3 NM of ocean along our coastline is the Queensland state Government’s domain. The federal government looks after the ocean from 3 – 200nm. The new legislation allows commercial operators to stop and watch these massive mammals whilst en route to the

The 2013 Gold Coast Whale Watching season is upon us with these majestic mammals swimming pass the Gold Coast for the next 6 months. Migrating Humpback Whales will show off their aerial tricks, tail slapping and syphopping during the Gold Coast Whale Watching Season. Come on a whale watching tour with us and have the closest possible view of these curious critters, with a maximum of 8 guests on board it is a very personal experience. Whilst under sail we often have the Humpbacks swim along side the vessel. They

With the Whale migration starting on the Gold Coast within a couple of weeks  (May 2013) we will be able to see the aerobatic display of the Humpback Whales as the head north along the Humpback Highway towards their breeding and birthing region. Whales are incredible at navigation. They have been traced by GPS tracking systems and shown to cross oceans within 1 degree on a compass of their track from last year. On their way up the coast line with the young males leading we are treated to the tail

Humpback whale song fills the ocean with the whales migrating between the warmer tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef and rich feeding grounds of the Antarctica waters. These melody’s are heard over thousands of miles of ocean.

Humpback Whale Song of a New Born Calf and Mother

This season Getaway Sailing will be recording the Humpback Whale song with our hydrophone. I will have these whale melody’s posted on the website for all to hear. The call of the Humpback is individual and repetitive. Listen to the

The humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a species of baleen whale. They are one of the  larger rorqual species and adults range in length from 12–16 metres and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms. They are known for their long pectoral fins and knobbly head. In this picture you will notice the size of a pectoral fin is larger than an adult human.

Humpback Whales males are wonderful producers of complex whale songs. I have heard these songs every time the hydrophone is placed in the water during the migration season.

Where Humpback