Bart Bear's Blog

Up in Hervey Bay, where Unka Ray lives, there is a big marina. We sailed out of this marina for our great whale cruise back in 2006. Because lots of whale-watch boats use this marina there is a life-sized statue of a humpback whale just outside the information centre. These whales certainly are big. Just to give you some idea, I am sitting at the base of the flipper of this one, just where it joins the body. I am 18cm high when I am sitting down, so you can see how big a whale is. They certainly look huge when you are seeing them from the deck of a small catamaran and they are scratching their chins on the rudder. I love whales. I can't say the same for the critter in the bottom picture though. It was on the end of a wharf near a big catamaran, just near where we were having morning tea. A big saltwater crocodile. I didn't like the way it was staring at me. I was awful glad when they told me it was concrete, not a real one. Mum doesn't have to tell me to keep out of the water when I am in croc country.

Labels: animals, Queensland, whales

We stopped for a few days at Nelson Bay on our way back from the Gold Coast. It is a bit quiet there in the winter months, but one thing that is happening is the migration of Humpback whales along the coast. They come close inshore at Nelson Bay and there are lots of boats that take you out to see them. The day we went it was fairly rough. Just take a look at these photos of one of the bigger boats being bounced around in the 2 m swells. You can see some brave and determined whale-watchers out on deck, but most of the passengers were inside trying not to be sea-sick. Our boat was only half the size of that one, so we got bounced around a lot more, but small bears don't get sea-sick and the Oldies usually don't either (it takes 5 m or more to get Dad crook). Yes, we saw some whales but they were all travelling fairly fast. Mostly we only saw the puff as they came up to breathe, and the tail and fin as they dived. Most of the passengers on our boat were thrilled by that. I wonder how they would react to the magical close encounters we had a few years back on out trip to Hervey Bay (check my Dec 2006 archive for image).

Labels: boats, New South Wales, north coast, whales

A pod of teenage humpback whales came over and played with us for a couple of hours. They were really close and really curious about the antics of the hyped-up passengers. One of them rubbed its tummy on the rudder. Another one spouted while Mum was taking its picture; it was so close that she got covered in whale snot (one of the highlights of her trip). These two came alongside while most of the crowd was looking over the other side so I got a good look at them from my window seat. One of them is "spyhopping" for a closer look at me. For a short time I was eye-to-eye with the biggest critter I have ever seen. I hope he was as excited as I was. We even heard them singing as they finally swam away, so they must have enjoyed the encounter too.

Labels: cruising, Hervey Bay, Queensland, whales

We visited Hervey Bay last September and went out for a day chasing whales. The boat we went on was a catamaran called "Shayla". It is a tiny boat, only taking 15 passengers at a time. It is also quite low, so you are right down close to the whales. It is not as fast as some of the big cats, but as the next post shows, you certainly get close to the whales. Here I am, sitting up near the front of the cabin keeping a lookout for whales while the people have morning tea. A bit of a problem really because I had never seen a whale before and was not sure what I was supposed to be looking for. When whales were spotted the people forgot all about me and rushed around getting great photos and even touching the whales. They left me sitting back here where all I could see was the backsides of people, not really a great view!!!

Labels: cruising, Hervey Bay, Queensland, whales