- We have regular daily sightings of the Bottlenose Dolphins that live in Port Stephens
- Australian Fur Seals were sighted on the 22nd, 26th, 27th, 28th
- Pacific Common Dolphin were sighted on the 27th & 28th
Sightings day by day:
Friday 29th: Morning 5 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Thursday 28th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Wednesday 27th: Morning 7 Humpbacks, Aternoon 12 Humpbacks
Tuesday 26th: Morning 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Monday 25th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon no cruise
Sunday 24th: Morning 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Saturday 23rd: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Friday 22nd: Morning 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon 6 Humpbacks
What a week..! The Humpback Mothers and Calves have 
been on cruise control all the way down the North Eastern coast of Australia on the whale highway. For some reason, this week they have decided that Port Stephens is just to much of an awesome tourist destination to pass by without first poking their heads in to say hi!
On nearly every cruise this week there have been at least one pair of Mother and Calf Humpback whales either just between Tomaree and Yaccaba headlands, or, as happened on a couple of cruises,
right inside the bay!
On yesterday’s cruise the whales were so far into shore they were just about crawling up the beach at Hawke’s Nest!
What does this mean…?
It means that Port Stephens is the prime spot for the absolute best whale watching experience, right now!
The whales travelling in so close to the headlands and islands gives us the opportunity on each cruise to “take a moment” and enjoy the scenery. !
Yaccaba Headland’s awesome display of Volcanic rock formations and caves is a great backdrop to watch the Bottlenose Dolphins, and this week, the Whales! Cabbage Tree Island is still playing host to a family of Australian Fur Seals and the pair of White breasted Sea Eagles are always flying overhead.
If you have the time, get to Port Stephens and book on a cruise. You will see and experience Whales, Dolphins, Seals, various bird species, Sailling and absolutely stunning scenery!
- We have regular daily sightings of the Bottlenose Dolphins that live in Port Stephens
- Australian Fur Seals were sighted from the 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th & 21st
- Pacific Common Dolphin were sighted on the 18th
Sightings day by day:
Thursday 21st: Morning 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon no cruise
Wednesday 20th: Morning 5 Humpbacks, Aternoon 5 Humpbacks
Tuesday 19th: Morning 5 Humpbacks, Afternoon 3 Humpbacks
Monday 18th: Morning 12 Humpbacks, Afternoon 12 Humpbacks
Sunday 17th: Morning 8 Humpbacks, Afternoon 14 Humpbacks
Saturday 16th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon no cruise
Friday 15th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Thursday 14th: Morning 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon 5 Humpbacks
Wednesday 13th October 2010
Yves Papin
A morning many of us will not forget for all the good reasons! This was certainly the best whale watch of the year and
one of the best in our last 16years of whale watching… ! So what happened this windy, grey, Sunday morning?
To find cover from strong sea conditions and wind, we headed of to Cabbage Tree Island. It’s a great spot to find calm water, have a bit of a break and watch the seals snoozing on the rocks as they come to spend winter and spring on the island. It’s a wonderful volcanic Island, a bird sanctuary and its unique rain forest is always worth a look.
From Cabbage Tree we headed north and spotted a Humpback calf tailing. Calves become usually very active after being fed and this one was particularly lively! He was putting on a great show! Then out of the blue, not far away, two mothers with their newborns started an amazing display of double breaches and this action sequence stole the show… We couldn’t resist any longer, our crew and pic hunter “Didj” was getting frustrated, we had leave our single star and go for the best!
What happened next, I have never experienced before… As we moved away the little calf caught up with us and swimming at full speed breached a few metres away, one. two.. three… four…. five times! It breached constantly and so close just like a dolphin would! As we approached the two other mothers with thier calves we were surrounded by breaching whales!… Six of them!… Awesome!… The atmosphere on the boat is very hard to describe, people were jumping and shouting as the whales exploded in and out of the water!
- We have regular daily sightings of the Bottlenose Dolphins that live in Port Stephens
- Australian Fur Seals were sighted from the 4th – 7th and the 9th – 12th.
- Pacific Common Dolphin were sighted on the 2nd, 5th, 9th & 11th
Sightings day by day:
Wednesday 13th: Morning 10 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Tuesday 12th: Morning 1 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Monday 11th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon no cruise
Sunday 10th: Morning 6 Humpbacks, Afternoon 6 Humpbacks
Saturday 9th: Morning 12 Humpbacks, Afternoon 6 Humpbacks
Friday 8th: Morning 7 Humpback, Afternoon 10 Humpbacks
Thursday 7th: Morning 6 Humpback, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Wednesday 6th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Aternoon 5 Humpbacks
Tuesday 5th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Monday 4th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Sunday 3rd: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon no cruise
Saturday 2nd: Morning 8 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Friday 1st: Morning 8 Humpbacks, Afternoon 6 Humpbacks
Port Stephens has had so many great days of Whale Watching
over the last 2 weeks, that it is very hard to pick 1 specific day for our ‘story of the week’!
The September sun has been shining and the Humpback Whales have started thier Southern Migration. There have been a handful of very cute and very playful Humpback calves travelling along with thier mums already! The calves routine mainly consists of drinking around 300 – 400 litres of milk per day and then…….. It’s playtime! Humpback
calves are very inquisitive and very eager to learn all the tricks like; Breaching, Tail slapping, Pectoral Fin slapping and Spy Hopping! We have had a couple of great ‘double breaches’, when mum and her newborn have jumped simultaneously out of the water!
The whales of the week however, have probably been the juvenilles and sub adults. 1 trip in 
particular we ended up seeing close to 20 whales altogether with a pod of 7 coming right past the boat and giving us a great breaching display! Other species of Whales have also been sighted. We had a couple of trips with Minke Whales, Sei Whales and ahuge pod of around 100 False Killer Whales!
Common Dolphins are becoming a regular occurance nearly every trip and they are quite often 
sharing fish with huge flocks of seabirds like; Yellow – nosed & Sooty Albatross, Australasian Gannetts, Shearwaters and Giant Petrels! This is a great sign for interaction on the upcoming Dolphin Swims!
Each week with the water becoming warmer we wonder when the last sightings of the Australian Fur Seals will be? All we know is that for the time being they are loving the sun drenched rocky platforms of Cabbage Tree Island and the little pups are becoming more playful every day.
- We have regular daily sightings of the Bottlenose Dolphins that live in Port Stephens
- Australian Fur Seals & Pacific Common Dolphins were sighted every day this week.
- On Friday 24th we had sightings of a Minke and Sei Whale!
Sightings day by day:
Thursday 30th: Morning 6 Humpback, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Wednesday 29th: Morning 3 Humpbacks, no cruise
Tuesday 28th: 14 Humpbacks, Afternoon 9 Humpbacks
Monday 27th: Morning 4 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Sunday 26th: Morning 3 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Saturday 25th: Morning 6 Humpbacks, Afternoon 4 Humpbacks
Friday 24th: Morning 1 Minkie Whale, Afternoon 1 Sei Whale
Thursday 23rd: Morning 2 Humpback, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Wednesday 22nd: Morning 1 Humpback, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
Tuesday 21st: 2 Humpbacks, Afternoon 2 Humpbacks
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- Nelson Bay Dolphin Watch & Weather 16/02/12
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- Port Stephens Dolphin Watch & Weather 07/02/12
- The Firetree & Dolphins
- Port Stephens Dolphin Watch and Weather 26/01/12
Imagine's Team
We have a passion for our local marine environment and sailing and we love to share it. We always have your safety and comfort in mind and always have time for a chat, so in no time at all you will feel like you're part of the family... welcome onboard!
French Skipper Yves Papin and International Whale rep Frank Future joined efforts with a few mates to create a friendly company dedicated to promoting Ecotourism in Port Stephens.