It’s A Whale, That’s Right?

From way up high at the lookout we searched through the Nikons among white horses stretching out to sea. I knew the leviathans favoured this kind of weather, it was blowing a gale and we daren’t get out of the car up there for fear of being blown over the edge. Maybe the choppy seas hide the whale’s blows when they surface, or maybe the rise and fall of the big ocean swells are just fun to play on, who knows? Down in the dark green sea a small boat was struggling southward. Quite close to the shore just in the lee of the escarpment, keeping out of the fierce offshore blow. We kept on searching and checked from time to time on the boat’s labouring progress through the swell, its wake looking a little odd, a bit small, even for a boat. No sign of a blow or a breach out to sea but again we came back to the boat. Then a pause. Wait a minute; Scarlett saw a tail or a flipper, not sure, but the boat…

“That’s not a boat, we’ve got one!” a shout went up.

Quickly the binoculars went round the car and we all saw that the little boat was actually a whale. Its great wide head pushed through the water followed by its even greater back, just like a small Quintrex Bar Crusher*, leaving the rather small wake (for a boat).

We looked around for a closer vantage point and picked out a small cliff road across the other side of the beach. No sooner had we belted up, than belted down the hill winding out through the houses to a little parking bay overlooking the happy whale some 300m out from shore.

Now down at a much closer view point my suspicions were confirmed beyond a doubt. Long periods spent cruising at the surface, slow lazy progress, a massive broad head like a bonnet and a distinct lack of aerobatics for the moment proved we were looking at a Southern Right Whale. Way, way back when whaling was a thriving industry these were the whales to harpoon for they hardly needed hunting, they were easy targets and floated after being shot due to their high blubber content, making them the ‘right’ whales to hunt. Scarlett thought this an entirely mean thing and she’s right. As a result of all this activity the Right Whales were sent all too quickly to the brink of extinction. Fortunately, due to the ban on commercial whaling, they were spared and although they’ll probably never recover to their former numbers there could well be enough left to remain part of our world.

Certainly they were not extinct here, not now though; we were experiencing something very rare indeed. I couldn’t believe my eyes and my kids thought me a little daft to be so excited about this particular sighting. They’ll know one day what all the years of supporting the Sea Shepherds was all about, if they don’t already.

As the whale lazed around at the surface our binoculars brought us even closer and the distinctive downturned mouth line could be seen by all of us, Scarlett and Lottie were particularly enchanted and Scarlett couldn’t take her eyes off it. At this range almost immediately we then saw the next even bigger revelation. Alongside this gargantuan black creature swam another lighter grey form, considerably smaller but similar in shape. How old I have no idea but mother and calf looked the perfect picture of nature’s creation. How rare must that be? Mother and calf? Fantastic!

A huge wide spray of mist from mum’s exhalation, followed by a smaller puff from bub, marked their places out in the sea. Soon they disappeared from the surface and a fluke followed a flipper as they dived together. Seconds later a huge broad head rose from the sea as the mother stood up for a look around in a perfect spy-hop. The callosities and barnacles forming her unique pale yellow markings around the head and chin could clearly be seen and a few seconds later down she went. Had she seen us? Did she know how much we loved her, how much we care that their world is kept safe?

Soon we were seeing tail flukes clearly and unlike the humpbacks, these were completely black underneath and much broader. They sometimes seem to signify the end of a sighting as the whale sounds to feed or explore the depths but this was an exception as both mother and baby continued to play. They treated us to some flipper slapping and even the little one poked its head up for a nosey. Nobody wanted to leave but the whales had moved slightly round the headland and were just out of our sightline for now.

Watching these animals always leaves a huge impression of power, grace, beauty and intelligence on me; indelible images etched across my mind forever and I think it could be doing the same for my children (and their children?). What a wonderful thought that is…

*Quintrex make aluminium sports boats and a Bar Crusher is a 5-6 metre long fishing sports boat suitable for offshore use and crossing coastal bars