My Favourite Humpback Images from 2023
By Lloyd Edwards

1. News

As per our previous posts, this years Humpback whale migration has been the best (14 500 observed) in the modern history of these amazing animals. This was after they were reduced to a few hundred individuals by the 1960s. In 1986 a moratorium of their hunting was enacted by the International Whaling Commission which allowed them and several other whale species from extinction and allowed some populations to recover.

The attached images were taken during a single whale watching cruise along the Port Elizabeth Beachfront during December 2023. What an incredible Algoa Bay we have and no doubt one of the loveliest beachfronts of any coastal city in the world. Add in some magnificent humpback whales and their calves, breaching, tail and fluke slapping, lunging and other forms of energetic behaviour and you have the cherry on the top!

The last Humpbacks left our shores at the end of December en route to their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean. They will be back passing Algoa Bay at the beginning of June this year. Be sure to come and greet them at our “Welcoming the Whales Festival” on the 2nd June.

An adult Humpback female raises her enormous tail flukes with City and Town Lodge in the background. Taken with a Nikon Z9 mirrowless, ISO 1000, 200mm zoom, f/13 and 1/1600th second.

A humpback calf breaches in front of the Radisson Blu Hotel. I wish they could be convinced to put an image like that up in their foyer. Last time I tried, they were simply not interested!

This adult Humpback female is half way through her breach, making a massive noise and splash on her reentry.

The two Humpback cows and their calves "steam" out of Algoa Bay

A Humpback female tail slaps in front of the Nelson Mandela University Admin building . . . I have offered them A0 prints for their foyer but they just don't seem interested. What a selling point to prospective students! Note the killer whale rake marks on the flukes.

A Humpback calf lunges through the water with the Nelson Mandela Stadium in the background. Note the tubercles on the head which are thought to aid prey detection during feeding.

An adult Humpback cow slaps it's enormous flipper on the surface with it's calf close by. They will need this appendage to ward of killer whale attacks on the calf.

The top side of the enormous tail with a calf near by. This image gives you a good idea of just how large these animals are.