Day 7 Among History and Whales! (Written on June 07, 2013)
We have a SW wind and swell for the start of the 7th. June the seventh? Some-one please tell me how we got to the middle of the year so quickly! New Years’ Eve feels like yesterday!
Cape Catastrophe, so-named for the loss of lives in 1803 from Matthew Flinder’s vessel ‘Investigator’.
Photo credit M.Jenner
Approaching Eyre Peninsula, 68 nm to our east, the place names on the chart inform of historical events with all manner of unfortunate-sounding pronouns – Coffin Bay Peninsula, Point Avoid and of course famous Cape Catastrophe, our destination en route to Port Lincoln. This cape gives reference to an event in 1803 involving seven members of Matthew Flinders crew from Investigator. While out searching for water in a separate small sailing vessel, all seven men were lost and never seen again. The islands surrounding Cape Catastrophe, where the men perished are immortalised with their names, Owen, Taylor, Grindal, Lewis, Hopkins and Williams Islands as well as Thistle Island, so-named after Flinders’First Mate John Thistle who was in charge. Lincoln National Park and Port Lincoln, the national park and the local town, commemorate the town of Lincolnshire were most of the ships’ crew hailed. Also female names adorn the same surrounding waters as Nicolette, Rosalind, Jane, Penny, Karen and Rosemary Shoals and also Maria Point. The chart reads as a novel. It’s an open history book with the place names as chapter headings. While we travel we pore over charts for hours upon hours. Many hopes and dreams of the early explorers were pinned on finding the elusive “inland waterway” along the southern coastline. Spencer Gulf unfortunately proved to be a closed rather than open water system for these explorers.
Eyre Peninsula and the surrounding islands appear as a misty golden wedge in the morning light.
Photo credit M.Jenner
In the morning, out of the grey this southern land appears in a golden, misty slice. Albatross soar in pairs. Passing Williams Island, waves batter its’ circular shape and a rounded grassy knoll extends beneath a tall, white lighthouse. West Point and Cape Catastrophe at the SE tip of the Eyre Peninsula appear as a misty, towering landscape behind low-lying green and rocky Williams Island.
Near Maclaren Point, Eyre Peninsula, we encounter a playful sub-adult humpback whale.
Photo credit M.Jenner
As we wind our way through the islands, past Taylor and Grindal Islands through Thorny Passage towards Port Lincoln, Inday and Resty are keenly surveying the water. From my desk in the main saloon I hear an excited call from Inday in the wheelhouse. “It’s a whale! Mich, a w-h-a-l-e!” On deck in a flash, Inday is already filming and I begin clicking away. Immediately, Curt and I realise we have a humpback whale! This is great! Quite close to land at Maclaren Point on the south-eastern side of Eyre Peninsula, a sub-adult humpback whale rolls and surges at the surface with pectoral fins and flukes extended. We see a small brown shape beside the rolling humpback whale – it seems a sea-lion is bobbing close by, could they be playing together? Over two hundred shots later we decide to continue on our way, bidding the whale and his friend a fond goodbye.
Rolling and twisting at the surface, we record all angles of this whale!
Photo credit M.Jenner
Excited at the sighting and still on deck enjoying the moment, the scanning and searching continues. Near the land another blow billows skyward. “Hey, there’s another blow, we have another whale!” I bellow across the deck, frightening poor Sam! Looking through my camera lens at the dark shape resting at the surface I can see that the animal has a slightly unusual shape. “Curt its’ a bit lumpy, I think it might be a southern right whale” Checking with our you-beaut Fujinon binoculars Curt confirms that we have a found a southern right whale! “Wahoo!” I call out over the deck, the sound rising from the bottom of my toes… Whales do something that makes me oh-so-happy… it is too late to apologise, 24 years of whooping can’t be undone!
But wait, there’s more – nearby two southern right whales slowly travel south in Spencer Gulf.
Photo credit M.Jenner
Approaching slowly, we see a large black, rounded body rises to exhale. The characteristic V-shaped blow of a southern right whale explodes into the air. In the water beside the blowing animal another dark shape lumes, “Hey, there’s two, yahoo!” Two southern right whales, wow! It’s winter and this is the time they inhabit the southern coastal bays to give birth to their calves. We are always in the tropics at this time and are unable to experience southern right whales nestled near shore-lines. Well, here we are, not one but two and they are huge! Certainly one animal appears pregnant but both could well be preparing to give birth this winter season. What a treat! Just as they begin to break the surface the cream, textured callosities on the top and sides of their mouth grooves glow light colours in the water.
The characteristic V-shaped blow of the southern right whale billows above the whale.
Photo credit M.Jenner
Huge blows fill the air above their lumpy heads and as the bodies round-out the extent of their rather-rotund shape unfolds. The girth of one of the whales travelling on the right side of the pod, is absolutely massive. A knuckled caudal peduncle slowly rises. As the broad, black 7m flukes lift water flicks off the trailing edge and sideways. The tail flukes enter the water slightly angled slipping down… The power in each stroke leaves beautiful swirls or “footprints” on the surface. The whalers once thought these marks were oil, literally exuding from the backs of the whales.
Raising their broad flukes in a dive, one notices the smooth fluke surface, the distinct central notch and pointed fluke tips.
Photo credit M.Jenner
We are so excited and thrilled to see these animals here during their breeding season. Within several surfacings, Inday has great footage from the masthead and with my trusty still camera I am able to fire through hundreds of photos in varying compositions. In the wheelhouse with big grins we are all checking our photos, Resty looking at images on his tablet, Sam on his camera and i-phone and I am recording the frame numbers for the notes. In the end, we have 271 photos of the sub-adult humpback whale and 541 of the two southern right whales! We are confident that in amongst these, there will be some head shots of the callosity patterns that our colleagues can compare with their catalogue of known southern right whale individuals that visit our southern shores.
Our crew, Resty and Sam enjoy the southern right whale sighting taking photos on their tablet, camera and phones.
Photo credit M.Jenner
Crossing Boston Bay the water is calm and silvery hued. Fishing boats travel to/from the port and with great anticipation we enter the marina, tying alongside the fuel dock to take delivery of a new rowing/sailing skiff built here in Port Lincoln. With the colours matching Whale Song, the new boat sports a dark green hull and cream insides. Seeing the gorgeous glowing huon pine transom Curts’ heart goes pitter-patter and he wears an ear-to-ear grin! We can row, sail and have picnics all at once! Can’t wait! Thanks Graham Daniels!
We meet up with our local friend Freddy for dinner at the restaurant near the marina and enjoy a lovely night talking all things watery, boatie and fishy.
With sweet dreams of southern right whales lolling at the surface,
Mich
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