A week of Fantastic Whale Action

Despite some poor weather conditions at Wilsons Prom last week which limited cruising to just two days, we encountered some fantastic whale action which thrilled everyone on  board!

Multiple pods of adult and subadult humpback whales were surface active, throwing their tails repeatedly on to the water – known as tail slaps, as seen in this image taken by Citizen Science Photographer Andrew Young last Friday.

Aside fromshowing off their spectacular surface action, humpback whales were also breaching frequently and seen feeding on bait balls, joined by dolphins, birds and seals. 

Citizen Science Photographer Ian Ryan captured these two distinct flukes on the Prom Whale Cruise last Tuesday. The fluke of a southern humpback whale is primarily white, with black markings and scarring.

Capturing the unique fluke patterns makes it possible to record these sightings as part of a global Whale ID database. We are continually contributing whale fluke data and learning some fascinating information about the whales’ migration journey in our area.

Did you know: humpback whales in the northern hemisphere have a mostly black fluke, which makes identification and research more challenging.

Images taken by our onboard Citizen Science Photographers Andrew Young and Ian Ryan.