Whale Watching Sydney
Coming from ‘somewhere near the Equator’, Whale Watching hardly sounds like an activity people will think of doing. I mean people, like us, students. Fortunately, I have a group of friends, whom so happened to be ‘Discovery Channel’ enthusiasts, to have known about such seasonal activity. Interesting!
From mid-May – early August, the Whales are migrating north to give birth and mate, while they head southerly during late August – December with newborns, returning after the mating season.
We took the 830am slot, departing Darling Harbour out towards the Eastern Coast for some Whale Sightings. I always thought it will be hours of journey towards the open ocean before we can find some whales, but it took us less than half an hour before the engine went idle and the ‘search’ began.
“I was still thinking about how the previous trip could have spotted 7 whales, and it thrilled me tremendously that at that moment I was going to find my maiden first!!”
Whale spotting is easy and comfortable when the sea is calm with nice sunny weather. All we need to do is to find white puffs off the limitless span of the sea horizon, and follow them as they make their journey up North.
‘White Puffs’ – the whale exhalation as they surface.
Within the next half an hour, we spotted a total of 4 humpback whales, swimming in pairs. Little facts about the whales, their swimming patterns and habits were told to us through the loud speakers by one of the crew across the vessel, while we were standing freely at our seemingly ‘best’ spot to watch the whales swim past.
Though we didn’t see any humpback’s belly surfacing (nor those ‘Free Willy’ jump you see in the movie), we did manage to see a few ‘Tail-up’ action of the humpbacks before they dive back into the sea, with each dive lasting around 5 – 10 minutes before they resurface for their next breath.
Light snacks are on free flow in the vessel, and there are heaps of free space to roam around; Middle/Lower deck with sheltered seating from the rain and wind if you’re cold, Upper deck for some sun-shine and better look-out across the ocean; and some benches at the front and back of the vessel to sit around and have small conversation.
What we miss, however, are some bottlenose dolphins that usually swim alongside the vessel during such whale_watching trips. Nevertheless, the 3-hours long trip was just about right to learn about one of our world’s largest living mammals.
Tickets with student concession costs about A$65, and you will be kept informed through sms/email should the weather be unfavorable for your booked whale_watching timeslot, and a rescheduling will be done at your next available date.
Well, life isn’t all about watching movies and having good food. This is something different that everyone should give it a go. And remember, you simply can’t do it just any day - it’s seasonal.
Now it’s the season.
A little trivia – do you know what’s a Whale Print? Look closely among the photos and you might get some clues.
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