Love on our doorstep – Southern Right Whales

At Phillip Island

Our beautiful Island became a holiday destination for two mating Southern Right Whales recently, with the active couple being sighted multiple times across a variety of locations. First spotted in the surf off Penguin Parade (Summerland’s) on 11/08/26, a single SRW was soon joined by a mate, later in the week.

For almost two weeks, we were fortunate to have sightings from Kilcunda all the way to the Nobbies with frequent stops in between. A local resident at Potters Hill confirmed hearing their blows from the clifftop balcony in the dark.

The highlight of their “love in” was the couple spending several hours “playing” in the surf from Anzacs beach to Cape Woolamai Surf club. Whale watchers were highly entertained by their antics as they appeared to mate their way through the waves.

Weighing up to 80 tonnes and reaching lengths of up to 18 meters, the happy pair showed superb water agility as they swam up and down the shore in the surf. Rolling, twisting and swimming on their backs for nearly 3 hours, keeping huge numbers of excited watchers happy.   

Almost hunted extinction up until the 1970’s, the SRW population currently sits at less than 300, unlike our Humpbacks, whose numbers are expected to reach 50,000 this year, their gestation period of 11-12 months, plus a weaning period of another 12 months, mean that a female can sometimes only breed every 3-5 years.

At Wilsons Promontory

At the same time as our romantic visitors were in the area, we had confirmed SRW sightings on our Wilsons Promontory Cruises on two separate occasions. A single whale was photographed swimming in the shallow waters off Long Jetty in Port Welshpool and Captain Thommo and crew had a different pair of SRW’s surface beside the boat on the eastern side of the Prom.

We know that the pairs of SRW’s were different as they were positively identified by Dr. Kasey Stamation at DECCA, using photographs of the callosities. These callosities are white or yellowish patches form on the rostrum (top of the head), chin, lips, and above the eyes and act like human fingerprints because every whale has a completely distinct arrangement.

We wish the pair good luck for the future and hopefully they will return with a newborn calf sometime in the future.