Tursday 24th June 2010
What a great week, so many whales, so many breaches as we enjoyed particularly good
sea conditions. Humpback Whale traffic is bottle necking off the Port Stephens lighthouse… It is just a matter of leaving the Nelson Bay and cruising along Fingal Island to find them. This morning we started the day with light rain but, with our covered foredeck, it was perfectly fine. With the whales migrating in force at the moment we took the time out to visit the volcanic chimney of Tomaree head land before heading to the ‘Whale Highway’.
We encountered nine whales during the morning cruise, then had constant breaching in tandem by 2 magnificent adults during the afternoon cruise. Cruising home we visited the colony of seals on Cabbage Tree Island. This volcanic island is part of the Tomaree National Park and a bird reserve. The Eastern side of the island is covered by an ancient rain forest of cabbage tree palms. The seals and island are becoming a regular place to visit after watching the whales on our way back to the port.
Thursday 17th June 2010
We enjoyed the best whale watch of the season so far today, with 36 full breaches counted in a 
single cruise. This is a record for Imagine as the breaches were all from a single, young Humpback Whale. The champion humpback was travelling with 2 other whales and is estimated to be around 7 years old. The Humpback was spotted at the outer light house and constantly breached for over an hour until it reached Boondelbah Island 5kms north.
Another record for Imagine was in July 2006 when we observed over 76 breaches in one cruise but it was achieved by multiple pods of whales. During July 2007 we were breath taken when a pod of 5 whales repeatedly breached simultaneously! Luckily at the time, our cameraman friend and crew member Ray Alley was onboard to capture the unusual sight of the “Triple Breach” You can see this amazing display now on www.printzofwhales.com
Today Rick caught some amazing video footage of the 36 breaches and our guests could not have missed with their
cameras! Leaving the whales after an hour of great entertainment, we then visited the colony of Australian fur seals on Cabbage Tree Island. We had a close encounter with a young female of around 80kg resting on a rock at the South Western side of the Island. We finally ended the cruise with a pod of Bottlenose dolphins engaged in amorous behaviour around ‘dolphin rock’ at the southern tip of Yaccabah headland. A great morning despite the cloudy sky and a bit of light rain!
Captain Yves
Wednesday 9th of June
This morning the ladies from “Life Without Barriers” a group caring for disabled people, were onboard for a bit of team
building, as we sailed with a friendly young Humpback whale for around ¾ of an hour. We sailed side by side and enjoyed each others company as the whale made its way North all alone, which is not usual behaviour…It weighed around 30 tonnes and was about 10 years old.
It has been a good week for whale watching since the official opening of the season last Wednesday. I just came back from the boat pumped up with energy from ocean wind. The Westerly was gusting at 25knots this morning, we enjoyed good sea conditions as we sailed near the shore protected by the coast line. Again today we encountered lots of whales off the
Fingal light house. It is now a regular meeting point as the constant flow of migrating Humpbacks has increased from day to day. This year we are expecting around 12,000 of them to travel on the “whale highway” just off the port.
Port Stephens is celebrating with the sound of country music this long weekend with its annual Blue Water Country Music Festival starting for 3 days this Friday night.
Wednesday 2nd June 2010
What a perfect way to officially launch the 2010 Port Stephens Whale Season! The weather was excellent as Imagine
along with 25 guests and crew lined up for the sail past and then headed straight for the headlands with the ‘hot tip’ of whales just out past Boondelbah Island!
It didn’t take long to find the humpback whales and to everyone’s surprise we found not one pod but two! With a mother and year old calf ahead of us and two huge Adults to the side, we didn’t know where to look! The two adults came to the surface more frequently as they steamed ahead towards Broughton Island and seemed like the best choice for watching.
With only 2.5 minutes between breathes, there were plenty of opportunities for photos, with the best coming on the very last sighting, as with Broughton Island in the background, the whales gave us two waves with their huge tails.
Imagine was thrilled to have NBN News reporter Madeline Bond and a camera man onboard who caught the action and was able to get a great story on the News! (click the NBN logo to watch the footage!)
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