Whale watching
Chasing islands that move.
Each year in late winter and spring, the waters off Eurobodalla’s coastline become a busy thoroughfare for humpback whales heading south from their northern breeding grounds to enjoy a summer of intense feeding in the Antarctic Ocean.
This migration has been going on for millennia with coastal Aboriginal people witnessing their passing and perhaps occasionally feasting on a beached whale. With colonisation came the whaling industry, ever more efficient, and by the 1960’s operations along our east coast and in Antarctic waters decimated the whale population to the brink of extinction. Worldwide protection agreements in place for over 40 years have allowed humpback whales to make a slow but steady population recovery, now returning in noticeably increasing numbers every year.
Riding south using the East Australian Current to conserve energy, the whales will travel over 5000 km to their summer feeding grounds at the edge of the Antarctic ice pack. In late winter the current flows towards the coast and the travelling pods are funnelled in close to Eurobodalla’s shores to provide some of the best whale watching opportunities in the world.
Of all the whale species, it is ultimately the famous yet little understood acrobatics of the humpbacks that lure whale watchers with the possibility that they may see a “breach” as the whale leaps from the water and returns with a mighty splash, or perhaps the awesome slapping of their giant fins and tail flukes on the water.
Later in the season female whales nursing their calves may be cruising just beyond the breakers, so close you can sometimes hear their breath as they exhale. The pair of them travelling all that distance – one a giant of around 15m and possibly over 50 years old and the other a tiny 4m and just a few weeks old - is a symbol of hope and reassurance for the future.
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Whale watching tours & links
Narooma Whale Watching tours
Moruya Whale Watching tours
Batemans Bay Whale Watching tours
Discover our best land based whale watching spots.
Read about Humpback whale facts
Read about Narooma and it's whales.
Subscribe to our blog www.nswhales.com.au
Text: follow whale_watch to 0198 089 488 and follow us on Twitter
See whale pics and stories on Facebook with Eurobodalla Tourism
Download Safe Whale & Dolphin Watching in NSW (361kb pdf).
Read Daily Telegraph: Twittering Whales, 31/8/10
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