This morning there was about 10 knots of North Easterly wind so it was a bit choppy, but overall the sea conditions were fairly good. We found 2 whales about a half mile north of the Brisbane. We followed these two for the entire trip and their down times ranged from only a couple of minutes up to 7 to 8 minutes. While their movement was a bit erratic they did put on a few good shows with pectoral slaps, fluke up dives and tail slaps. We also saw a pod of dolphins which included a mother and calf and a few schools of jumping fish (maybe making an escape from those dolphins!)
This afternoon sea conditions were consistent with 10 knots of North Easterly wind and a little bit of chop. We saw the first pod of 2 whales 3 miles east of Point Cartwright. These were identified by their flukes (tails) to be the same two we visited this morning, we saw them a couple of times before finding another whale about 3 miles south of them. It showed off with pectoral slaps and 3 breaches, coming closer to the boat each time, finally swimming under the boat and heading north with barrel rolls and more pectoral slaps. Another whale came to join and we had close encounters. On the way back in we saw a mother and calf heading north east by Nearings marker, though they weren’t up to much other than synchronized swimming!