Whales wave G’day
Mum and calf give local boaties the shock of their lives
JUST AS WE GOT THERE IT WENT UNDER THOUGH, AND WE THOUGHT IT WAS GONE, BUT A FEW SECONDS LATER BOTH THE MOTHER AND THE CALF JUMPED WELL OUT OF THE WATER, TWISTING IN THE AIR
DARCY ARNOLD
A BOATIE off Magnetic Island got the shock of his life when a humpback whale and her calf came up to say hello near his boat.
Darcy Arnold shot the incredible footage on Sunday afternoon while out on a boat with his s dad, which h showed a moth- er humpback k whale and her r calf breach out t of the water at t the northeast tip p of Maggie.
Mr Arnold, 18 8 (pictured) said d they were head- ing to one of the e bays for a swim m when they spot- ted something that looked like a “big log” in the ocean.
“A few minutes later it starts spraying water and whistling as a whale would, so we sat there and watched for a while, while a few other boats came over to watch,” Mr Arnold said.
They left to go for a swim and the whales were still there playing when they returned.
“When we came back about half an hour later it hadn’t moved too much and people were still watching it,” he said.
“Just as we got there it went under though, and we thought t it was gone, but a few seconds later both the mother and the calf jumped well out o of the water, twisting in the air.
“I assumed s it would only jump once but when they both b jumped right after, I scrambled for my phone and got the mother’s third and final jump clear on video.
“The calf kept jumping on its own before they headed south out of sight.”
According to the Department of Environmental science, humpback whales are off the Queensland coast between late autumn and late spring.
They turn south in July and August with about a quarter of the population entering Hervey Bay.
An added feature of watching whales on their southern migration is the chance of seeing mothers with their newborn calves, just like the pair spotted at Maggie.
Boaties are urged to give whales space if they see them in the ocean, enabling the large animal to behave naturally.