Watching Whales in the Tasman Sea – July 24 2014
July 2014 By: Suzi AlbrechtWe went whale-watching our first day in Sydney. Just after we arrived from our 15 hour Qantas flight to SYD from LAX. Yikes! All the guides and travel blogs recommend instant action after long haul travel. They say you should face jet lag head-on by fighting sleep and immediately taking on your new time zone. I was excited to go whale watching, and figured the motion of the sea might trick my body into forgetting I just traveled 26 hours straight. It worked!
What a great decision. It was an excellent day out on the water. The sun was shining and the sea was flat. Since whale season was at its peak, we were sure to see some of the hundreds of pods making their annual migration up the New South Wales coastline to breed in the warm, shallow waters of the northern Coral Sea Islands Territory.
So me, my sister and our two sons hopped a bus from Neutral Bay to Sydney’s downtown city centre. After passing a sidewalk festival and some rowdy German drafthouses in The Rocks, we boarded a well-oiled commercial whale watching catamaran in Sydney Harbour. We chose the more expensive and less crowded boat with extra space to stretch out. The tour boat also had beer and wine, and tea and biscuits. We soaked it all in, which made our afternoon even more relaxed and festive.
After the crew gave us a safety presentation..
and the boat departed Sydney Harbour…
we quickly passed the world famous architectural stunner, the Sydney Opera House.
And we passed the wickedly eerie giant clown-face fronting the waterside entrance of Luna Park.
Sydney Harbour was speckled with boats that glided by smoothly in July’s cool, winter sunshine.
Public ferries delivered commuters to the countless docks surrounding Sydney Harbour.
The magnificent Sydney Bridge was soon far behind us.
With the Sydney skyline behind us…
we soon passed a small, candy-striped lighthouse. It marked the main head near our final exit of the harbour, as we made our way out onto the Tasman Sea.
The ocean was calm and cool.
Within minutes, the captain announced our first whale spotting on the horizon. We listened closely to understand exactly where to look. He said the best way to spot a whale is to look for a tall burst of mist spraying up from the ocean, which is the blow of the whale, surrounded by a very still and glassy trail of water.
The boat glided over to the area the captain spotted, and we quickly came upon a pod of five playful whales, who decided to hang out with us for nearly an hour of afternoon fun. The captain speculated it was four amorous males competing for the attention of one lucky female, who they all seemed to circle and play around.
Another whale watching boat saw the pod as well, and watched from afar. This boat was a great backdrop, and provided a good frame of reference for the size of the whales, so I was happy to include this perspective in my photos.
It was exciting to watch the huge whales play right off the Australian coast. Especially on several occasions when they burst out of the water, and with a grand and graceful gesture from their barnacle-encrusted tails, glided swiftly back in.
It was an incredible experience, especially with the gorgeous beaches and hills of Sydney as an elegant backdrop.
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