More Humpback Whales than ever before
By Jake Keeton

1. News

During last year’s migratory whale season, we could not believe the number of humpback whales that were passing Algoa Bay. We declared the season 'the best we have ever had'. Our thoughts at the time were that it was due to extraordinary circumstances that the whale numbers were so high. Perhaps whales that normally migrate up the West Coast of Southern Africa decided to come up the East Coast instead. We did not expect this year’s whale numbers to match those of last year. Much to our surprise, so far this season we are experiencing even higher numbers. 

Our half day Whale, Dolphin and Penguin island Cruise gives us 4 hours to search the Bay for whales and spend a permitted 20 minutes with each close encounter. This is normally plenty of time, however due to the sheer number of whales in our waters at present we are now finding ourselves having to skip the smaller pods of whales and rather spend time with the bigger groups or those with the best behaviour. This is a rather funny, but amazing situation to be in as during the summer months we celebrate when we see just a few whales during our cruises. 

Currently there are researchers conducting a population count on the humpback whales that are migrating up the East Coast of Southern Africa. The research team spends hours each day taking shifts looking through optics from a vantage point on land, counting the humpbacks as they pass our coastline. We wait in anticipation to see what their study reflects. All in all, we know that the Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whale population has recovered to what it was before whaling started in the 1800's. 

Currently the Humpback Whales are in a rush to make it to the warm waters off Mozambique and Kenya where they will give birth to their calves. They are not taking the time to come shallow into our Bay, so at the moment we start our tours off by heading a few miles offshore to find the humpbacks, and then make the run across Algoa Bay to visit the African Penguin colony at St Croix Island. During the return trip from the island we search for Bottlenose Dolphins and our other species of Migratory Whale, the Southern Rights. 

 We hope that this whale sighting madness continues up until early December when the humpbacks head back to their feeding grounds in the South Seas.