19/07/2022 it was a cold start to the day with a brisk cold gentle Northerly breeze blowing , the ocean was flat calm with no swell, and we headed out of Augusta Boat Harbour – straight away there was small splashing in close to shore by the old river mouth at flinders bay , so we headed that way and discovered a Mother with her new Humpack calf which was mainly grey in colour. The little one was practicing tail slapping and Breaching while mum a fully grown 15 metre Humpback lay resting …. a awesome sight to see such a young whale playing safely in the bay for all onboard.

We then decided to let the youngester enjoy playing and Mum resting so quickly moved away , our next target was a pod of 2 Humpbacks which were also resting and moving slowly at about 2 knots through the bay they were doing 6 minute breath holds and would surface close to the boat do the odd pec slap and tail slap, we sat with these 2 for most of the tour as there were plenty of whales in the area doing much the same thing with these 2 being the most interactive.

The afternoon tour started much the same way , this time with another Humpback calf which was alot more darker than the previous one , we watched this mother and calf as the calf did some close passes by the boat, we left these guys and headed seaward coming across one of the stangest pigmentations I have seen in a Humpback whale in the 12 years we have been Whale Wachting, the crew and passengers called her “Zebra” ( see pics below )

We then moved around the Abalone farm and towards Saint Alouran Island discovered in 1772 by louis de St Alouran and here we found a competion pod that were moving at 8 knots at times the 3 super sized Humpback males swam so close they almost went underneath us – all onboard got to witness – Head lunging and lots of pushing and shoving from the big males , we followed them to south east rocks before Heading back to Augusta Boat Harbour.

Saturday produced some cold north eastery winds and scatterd rain with plenty of customers ringing to see if we where still heading out, as it was pouring in Margaret River and Busselton. Augusta managed to dodge the rain until you guessed it Departure Time 😉

We left the harbour and spotted a couple of sleepy Humpbacks doing 7 minute breathe holds , so we left these tired Humpbacks in peace, moving around the Abalone farm we spotted some solid spouts of approx 4 Humpbacks, well this was us for the rest of the tour!

The 4 turned into 6 … a new mum and calf along with an escort the passengers named the Escort Oreo due to the strange colourings of the whale, the white pigment made it easy to spot in the cold frigid water. We escorted these whales to Southeast Rocks where they provided some close passes and a farewell Breach which was a crowd pleaser. This was the end of the tour as we headed back to Augusta Boat Harbour with over twenty Humpbacks sighted for the morning.

The afternoon saw the wind drop to a gentle breeze and change direction to the south west with 6 lucky passengers picking up on a pod of fast moving socialising whales giving close passes and under boat swims. We picked these guys up on the Eastern side of the Abalone farm, we follwed them through the Abalone farm and all of a sudden 3 breaches from another whale on the western side of the farm , all of sudden the speed increased direction changed and we were in pursuit , we got to the area were the breaches occured and in no time a competion pod the males were in pursuit of a lady vying for attention ,these whales headed straight for the gap in the reef where two oceans meet what a sight , we abonded the chase as the swell was picking up due to the water getting shallower , on the search for our next target we picked up a large pod of inshore Bottlenose Dolphins right in the middle of Flinders Bay , they Bow rode the vessel making everybodys day especially the young lady who said it was the best day of her life

2022 Augusta Whale Watching season has produced one of the best starts we have seen, the last time it was this good was the famous 2014/2015 season’s.

There is over 40,000 Humpbacks on the Western Australian coast and a large majority of them pass through Flinders Bay. These giants can grow to 17 metres and weigh over 40 ton.

They leave the food rich waters of Antarctic and begin one of the worlds longest mammal migrations of over 5000km and journey that takes 3 month to reach the warmer waters of camden Sound .

Large pods have been travelling up from the south/south east and into Flinders Bay and they use the bay to transit through and rest after battling the wild southern ocean.

We have been seeing over 20 Humpbacks a tour on Average including Large competition pods of 6 to 12 adult male Humpbacks chasing and showing of to a perspective female.

Also we have had over 12 calves born in the Bay in the last 6 weeks, some looking no bigger than a large Dolphin. Our crew at All Sea Charters wish them a safe migration in these cooler frigate waters.

Southern right whales have also started to make an appearance in the bay and which we hope to see more of of them in the coming months. These Beautiful Whales are still on the endangered list – so it is always exciting to see numbers of sightings increase each year.