A Whale of a Time on Friday.

Friday was my Whale Day and I was not to be disappointed in any way.

The photo below is of a Humpback Whale near to the boat. I was a bit slow taking many of the photos because you need to be very quick with a good camera that can handle the short amount of time in which you have to capture the moment. Also the boat is rocking and you need to be able to move at once for a view of the whales because even though they know we are there we only have a few signs of where they might be at any given time. I did manage a couple of nice photos and this is one of them.

 

 

There was a pull for me while visiting the Gold Coast, the feel of the wind on my face the smell of the sea and the chance to get up close and personal with some locals, the whales off of Coolangatta/ Tweed Heads. I found the little information booklet at the reception counter of the accommodation and tried to work out a morning for whale watching. In the mean time the whales were not waiting for me to make up my mind. A pod of Orca's gave the tourists on the Charter boat the thrill of a life time on Tuesday as I went for a therapeutic massage. I missed out on that magic moment however my body did thank me for the deep tissue massage which I needed so badly. Then as we ventured around the local beaches on Wednesday, taking in the sun whilst being totally besotted by the scenery with cameras in hand, we came upon a wonderful point overlooking the outlet where the Tweed River empties into the sea.

 

 

Whilst engaging in the act of delighted tourists we noticed that behind us there was a man setting up a camera and yet another man holding up a large circular and white piece of paraphernalia. Glancing toward them it was suggested that these men might be doing a commercial shoot for this area, and so on we went pointing cameras and doing the things tourists do. It was later in the evening and on the local news that my niece called us all to the Television set as the announcer spoke about the gathering of five humpback whales around the charter boat off Tweed Heads that day and we realized we were the background stars in that small section of the news. The men were there up on the Point Danger doing the segment for the news about the incident that had happened out to sea that morning and we had no clue to any of this until we saw the news. It was so funny that we all had a good laugh but it truly was my moment of enlightenment and of course what ensued was my booking for friday morning on the same charter boat.

 

To read about the exciting encounters via the Charter companies website please Click here.

 

Our host and hostess on the boat were Carol and Tony and Carol's love for the tours and the whales becomes evident as she rolls off so much information to us all whilst her eyes peel the ocean for the tell tale signs of these mighty sea creatures. I had no idea that in the beginning they were actually land dwellers and that through time and necessity they have evolved into sea creatures. We did see a calf and it's mother pass by and Carol informed us that the mothers are quite protective so that was as close as she was probably going to allow us to be. We did not approach the whales this is not allowed however they can approach the boat if they wish to as they did on the that previous Wednesday. Three came by from a pod and then another two from a nearby pod came up for a nosie too! They are like this, quite curious creatures.

 

 

After three hours out on the sea in the best conditions I came away with a feeling of total refreshment and all in all there must have been about 7 pods in our small area of the sea, happily doing what pods of whales do, on a relaxing sunny morning off the Gold Coast of Australia  and as we headed back to shore, sea spray shooting off the side and back of the boat, I was one very happy and enlightened lady. Try it yourself sometime too!

 

Milli 09.