Three Whales in an Hour!
By Lloyd Edwards

1. News

The whale season has been simply spectacular this year in Algoa Bay. Heading out with a boatload of international tourists, they just did not know what a surprise they were in for!

First up were some Bryde’s whales which are feeding on an unusually large amount of bait fish in Algoa Bay for this time of the year. They have probably returned to the bay after following the sardine run up to KZN in July. We were also lucky enough to see one with a calf which we have been monitoring for the last few months. It is looking fat and healthy, let’s hope it keep away from the rock lobster traps, ropes and buoys!

Next up were a whole stack of Humpback whales in the mist. Jake managed to position the boat in such a way that I had the Nelson Mandela University in the background. I have offered them photos like this in the past but for some reason they never get back to me.

Then a Southern right whale with her calf. Likewise Jake managed to position the Cape Recife lighthouse perfectly in the background. It looks so cool with the mist descending over the lighthouse.

And of course to top everything off we managed to find our enthralled guests a nice school of around 400 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. There were even a few penguins on the lower reaches of St Croix Island.

We had a very special guest, Sarah Ferguson of Breathe Conservation on board, who will be starting her epic swim from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town. She has already completed the Durban to Port Elizabeth part of the journey. She is raising awareness for marine plastic pollution. We wish her all the very best. The only solution to preventing marine plastic is the STOP PRODUCING IT!

A Southern right whale swims along slowly off the Cape Recife lighthouse. They will leave Algoa Bay one of these days for the long swim back to their feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean.

A humpback whale tail slapping with the Nelson Mandela University building in the background. The pattern on the tail flukes is unique to every animal and allows us to identify them.

This is a different individual to the previous photo as can be seen by the different pattern.

The nobs on the humpback whale's head were referred to as "stove bolts" by the early whalers. They each contain a hair in the middle which is thought to assist during feeding.

A Bryde's whale with her calf in tow. These whales do not migrate except for up and down the South African coast in pursuit of food. We have been seeing the calf quite a few times this year. They are born at any time of the year.