Whale Watching

 On Monday the 7th of August Kookaburra and I went on a whale watching boat at Hervey Bay

We were so ecstatic! You could practically feel the excitement in the air

Our boat was set for an 8:30am start with the passengers getting there 15 minutes early... we got there 30 minutes early, we did not want to be late

As soon as we boarded, we knew we had to find a seat out in the open. There was no way for my first big boat ride that I was sitting inside 

Obscuring a seat at the front of the boat (or as some of you know it as the bow) we settled in for an anticipant wait

The lady beside us was very nice and carried on a conversation that I only half listened to due to my growing anticipation

Unfortunately, I was in for quite a wait, as it took us about an hour to reach the whales. Though I can't complain too much as I enjoyed the scenery, the motion of the boat and the wind and sun on my face

When we did finally come to our destination in Platypus Bay, we didn't immediately see any whales

Although reasonably soon we did spot one loner who was calmly surfacing

As we got closer, he surfaced a few more times than vanished our captain said we'll wait a few minutes then head on to another pod. We waited...  And waited... than waited some more, it's quite the waiting game, nobody's sure if he's going to pop up to our right or to our left or right behind us

After what felt like 10 minutes but was probably more like 5, the captain announced that he's done the famous disappearing act, surfacing a few times to draw us in then disappearing when we think we're in for a show

Moving on we came upon a pod to our right and a pod straight ahead

After some hesitation the captain chose the pod on our right as the people on the boat could only see the ones to the right and were furiously taking photos

Upon coming closer we found that it was just one whale again, and he was not impressed with us

 

 He started to swim away and the captain let him. After explaining to us that some whales just aren't interested in us and that when they're not we leave them be, we headed on to the other pod

Upon arriving there we found three whales who were happy to see us

We finally had what we were looking for! Whales who were interested in us and weren't afraid to show off

They circled us, they slapped the water with their fins, they rolled around, they spy hopped and they sang they're beautiful songs to us

It was truly amazing seeing these proud majestic creatures up close and personal. They were so close that one of the passengers even touched one

They stayed with us for more than an hour, just showing off and having fun 

Unfortunately, after an hour of just sitting there with the engines off and the waves to rock us, I found out that I get a tad seasick 

I started to find it hard to race from one end of the boat to the other, up the stars then down the stairs without feeling nauseous 

I found that sitting down or leaning on something solid helped to keep the nauseous feeling at bay 

Around an hour of us just sitting there, another whale appeared

He was bigger than the other three and caused a disruption among them

The three original weren't happy with him and kept blocking him off or nudging him out

After a while he was accepted however and included in their fun

They stayed with us another 20 minutes more then with a flap of their tails they left

I was exhausted after all the excitement and wasn't feeling up to sitting outside on the way back, so I found a nice quite table inside and rested my head on it, that seemed to help with the seasickness

I really must have been tired for before I knew it I was awoken by the sound of Kookaburra sliding into the seat across from me

I couldn't be bothered to lift my head though so I dozed off again 

It was an amazing day filled with excitement and wonder. I'm glad I had the chance to witness something as incredible as these magnificent creatures up close