The great humpback whale migration is well and truly under way now, bringing grey nomads flocking to the coast to catch a view of these elegant giants.
A number of humpbacks have already been spotted playing in Great Barrier Reef waters off the coast of the Port Douglas in the far north … and it’s promising to be a spectacular season.
A record 13,500 whales are expected to be making their journey north from Antarctica to the warm waters of the Reef for their annual mating season. Among them is the famous all-white whale, Migaloo, which has been spotted swimming off Fraser Island and is expected to make it to Cairns within the next two weeks.
The skipper of Quicksilver Cruises’s Silversonic Shane Dowd said the humpbacks were already putting on quite a spectacular show off Port Douglas, including amazing breaches.
“It is always exciting to see the humpbacks arrive, and a positive for all our passengers and crew,” he said. “Our guests are just in awe, everyone was on the decks and just delighted to see such an amazing sight.”
Of course there are strict regulations governing how close boats can get to whales and, in the Great Barrier Reef marine park, for example, they are not allowed within 100 metres.
It certainly doesn’t pay to get too close as 13-yearold Drew Hall will testify after he was knocked unconscious by a whale. He was fishing off Redcliffe (just north of Brooms Head) with his parents, Karen and Steven, when the tail of a whale rose up above their boat and crashed down on top of him.
Drew was knocked unconscious either by the impact of the tail or being driven into the floor of the boat. His collar bone was broken in the incident.
Geoff Ross from National Parks and wildlife told the ABC is was very rare for whales to attack vessels, especially unprovoked.
His only explanation is that the whale involved may have been harassed by other people or boats before coming into contact with the Halls.
He believes the whale may have surfaced and been frightened.
“It would have reacted to try to dive very quickly and when whales dive, the flukes come up and then they slap down very hard,” he said. “That would have explained why the flukes came down on the child in the back of the boat.”
