The Gold Coast continues to welcome creches of mother and calf humpback whale pairs. This combined with northern regions such as Harvey Bay encountering large pods signals favourable sighting opportunities all the way through until the end of the whale watching season on 6 November for the Gold Coast.
Five pairs were sighted in one tour alone over the weekend. The warm and shallow waters of the Gold Coast Bay make for the perfect ‘whale creche’. Mothers will often meet up with each other and allow their little ones to socialise with each other. Humpback calves need to be as strong as possible before they begin their long journey to Antarctica. They strengthen their muscles and learn whale skills by copying their mothers and their peers.
Onboard photographer Kate Robertson from Sea World Cruises has had the opportunity to snap some incredible photos of the humpback whales, including calves with their mothers. Kate recently moved from rural Victoria to the Gold Coast to pursue her passion for wildlife and marine tourism and has worked with Sea World Cruises since the beginning of the season.
Perfecting the art of wildlife photography requires a lot of patience and practice. Whales are wild creatures and can be unpredictable. They can dive from one side of the boat and be seen breaching from the other.
Setting up the camera is important to avoid a large, grainy blur of a whale. Kate suggests putting the camera in shutter priority mode and adjusting the camera shutter speed to at least 1/800 fps.
Once the whales have been spotted, it’s time to prepare to shoot. ‘You should always be ready for the shot because as soon as you put your camera away is when the whales choose to do something special!’ says Kate.
One of her fondest memories of the 2022 season was capturing underwater footage of the humpback whales when they chose to mug the boat. Mugging is a term used to describe the behaviour of whales when they curiously approach the boat. Dedicated to the shot, Kate had the GoPro under the water and was showered with ‘whale snot’ as it surfaced. Although covered in snot, she got some great underwater footage.
Whale Watching Cruises depart up to seven times daily from Sea World Cruise Terminal at Sea World in Main Beach. For more information, visit seaworldcruises.com.au.
