Humpback Whales

Their scientific name is Megaptera novaeangliae.
They travel the great distance of 10,000 kilometers or 6,213.71192 miles. There are different ‘branches’ of humpback whales and they usually follow the same migratory route-1) Hawaii to Alaska and the western coast of the Americas, 2)The eastern seaboard has a group that moves down to the Carribbean and up to Maine, and then3) the Antarctic and Australian group.

Humpback whales eat a ton of food a day (literally), usually krill, plankton, sand lance (in Maine) and other small fish- herring, mackerel, and squid. Krill, which are very small only 6 centimeters or 2.36220472 inches long, have large eyes for such a small body and are mostly clear but have a reddish orange section on their back. They can breed more than once during the season and they can lay up to 10,000 eggs at once.

Although these whales are big(max 16 Meters or 55 feet and Weigh 40 tons or 80,000 lbs), they are not the biggest whale.

Shortly after Europe colonized Australia the Humpbacks were hunted for their oil and baleen (or ‘whalebone’). Harpoon guns and steam-driven whaling boats made hunting more efficient and cause d the humpback o come very close to extinction. They have made a strong comeback.



Humpback calves stay with their mother for 11-12 months, but during this time, they are often attacked by killer whales or sharks. Although we heard there was a calf born in the Sydney Harbor while we were there, we did not actually get to see it.

Humpback whales can be identified from the shore by their ‘blow’- the spray of water when the come up to breathe,

photo by http://www.mersea.com/humpback_info_page_2.htm 

by the shape of their back when they ‘surface’,

by their ‘fluke’ or tail,

Photo from http://www.uq.edu.au/whale/humpback-whales

by their pectoral fin or when they ‘wave’,

and of course if they ‘breach’ the water- or jump- it is easy to tell what kind of whale you are seeing.

(photo by http://www.familyadventuretravelworks.com/tag/humpback-whales )

We saw all of these except the breach.

It was an unexpected treat to see these whales as we were driving down the Great Coastal Highway. Photos are ours, unless otherwise noted.

NOTE: My apologies to Beej for not posting this report earlier. I just missed it.  And as an addendum, we can now see whales from our balcony - Unbelievable! Stay tuned for more... Mom

WE SAW WHALES!!

Great ocean road  continued.. WE SAW WHALES!!

Yep, yep, it is true!!

We saw many interesting things.. this hotel seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We were just driving along and zoop-zoop, there it was! I hope that is a good excuse for the catywonkiness of the picture, I had to grab the camera really quickly!

And then, as we continued driving and admiring the beautiful scenery, we saw lots of cars pulled off the road. We also saw the flash of police lights, so I thought someone had an accident, but… as we got closer….we joined them because we saw THIS!!! Can you see them... whale fins!!

But we were able to get a better view!

And then even better. 

We stayed quite a while and moved down the coast with these amazing creatures.  They were just hanging out, drifting slowly down the shore.

Humpback whales! We did get a bit of great video- including a perfect fluke (tail shot) ! We can’t wait to show it to you all when we get home!