Cap'n! There be whales | Tuesday, July 18, 2006 |
Oh yes there are. And such large ones too. And close by. On a clear day I could squint and see them from the dining table - perhaps.
Sunday came, and we trundled off to the ferry to get to King St. Wharf in order to join one of the armada of vessels that leave to find our Baeleen friends.
We got to the ferry terminal in Manly early (natch), and went for a walk. On return we discover that the first ferry has been cancelled due to fog. Panic ensues.
Sydney Ferries it seems have tried and failed to line up a replacement bus, so they pay for cabs into down instead. Not bad! So we sailed (or rather drove) do Circular Quay pretty quickly given that it was about 0745 on a Sunday morning.
At the wharf we spy an impressively large twin-hull advertising whale watching. Cool. Hmmm. Wrong wharf. It leaves.
Our barely floating bathtub chugs into view about 15 minutes later.
That's a bit harsh, it was fine and about 45ft, so not a small boat by most definitions and hot hot tea in abundance. And we found whales first.
Bob, bob, bob went the boat down to Bondi where a pair of Dolphins joined us under the prow for a while, cackling the way they do. They vanished about 10 minutes before we spotted a pair of Humpback whales. They're big, even from a ways a way (+100m). The sea had an enthusiastic swell on it that rendered most of our pictures, er, crap.
After watching them do what they do the boat turned around heading back to our neck of the woods based on feedback from other the spotters. We found our final recalcitrant whale no more than say, 1.5k off the coast at Manly/Freshwater.
I'm not going to rattle on about the cold. But, brrrr. I for one think that Sea Breezes should include vodka, grapefruit and cranberry juice. You can keep shivering.
But I've seen whales. Big ones (70-90 tonnes). They blew whale blow everywhere and thudded their huge tales into the sea before diving. No leaping from the water but then there wasn't a single japanese person in sight so perhaps they were just being all together more placid.
I'll cull the worst pictures and put a few up shortly.
Sunday came, and we trundled off to the ferry to get to King St. Wharf in order to join one of the armada of vessels that leave to find our Baeleen friends.
We got to the ferry terminal in Manly early (natch), and went for a walk. On return we discover that the first ferry has been cancelled due to fog. Panic ensues.
Sydney Ferries it seems have tried and failed to line up a replacement bus, so they pay for cabs into down instead. Not bad! So we sailed (or rather drove) do Circular Quay pretty quickly given that it was about 0745 on a Sunday morning.
At the wharf we spy an impressively large twin-hull advertising whale watching. Cool. Hmmm. Wrong wharf. It leaves.
Our barely floating bathtub chugs into view about 15 minutes later.
That's a bit harsh, it was fine and about 45ft, so not a small boat by most definitions and hot hot tea in abundance. And we found whales first.
Bob, bob, bob went the boat down to Bondi where a pair of Dolphins joined us under the prow for a while, cackling the way they do. They vanished about 10 minutes before we spotted a pair of Humpback whales. They're big, even from a ways a way (+100m). The sea had an enthusiastic swell on it that rendered most of our pictures, er, crap.
After watching them do what they do the boat turned around heading back to our neck of the woods based on feedback from other the spotters. We found our final recalcitrant whale no more than say, 1.5k off the coast at Manly/Freshwater.
I'm not going to rattle on about the cold. But, brrrr. I for one think that Sea Breezes should include vodka, grapefruit and cranberry juice. You can keep shivering.
But I've seen whales. Big ones (70-90 tonnes). They blew whale blow everywhere and thudded their huge tales into the sea before diving. No leaping from the water but then there wasn't a single japanese person in sight so perhaps they were just being all together more placid.
I'll cull the worst pictures and put a few up shortly.
