The Elusive Whales

As I mentioned in a previous post I had booked a couple of tickets on a whale watching cruise while we were on holidays on the Sunshine Coast. As the weather forecast wasn't looking too good for the day we had booked for the cruise we were notified well beforehand that it was cancelled until the following day which was not so windy but became quite overcast as the day progressed.

I didn't want to drive up to Mooloolaba as I am not familiar with the roads so I checked out the Translink website to plan the trip by bus as we had to be at the wharf by 8.30am. It was a tad chilly getting out of bed early but we caught the bus just after 7am and arrived in plenty of time. I asked the driver to let us know when we were near Underwater World as we needed to get off and he said that it is now known as SEA LIFE. I had booked our tickets through the Whale One website and it said to be at the wharf by 8am but when I spoke to them on the phone they said they didn't board until 8.30am so we had plenty of time to have a coffee and take our sea sickness tablets which were recommended.  

We boarded Whale One  and headed up to the top level and then we were off into the great unknown.

 We sailed past the millionaires' homes and boats...

 ...and out to sea...

...and we just kept powering on and on for one and a half hours...

 ...before seeing some telltale signs that we had found the whales.

It was terribly difficult to take decent photos as I would just focus the camera and they would go under the water. One huge whale made a dive under our boat and came up the other side and we all tried to move from one side of the boat to the other but it was difficult to get our balance so by the time we got there the photo opportunity was lost. I was a little nervous when it did that as the movie Moby Dick was very popular when I was growing up. If you had seen that movie you would understand. LOL!

We were told that the smooth ocean surface where they go under is called a 'footprint'.

These whales were young ones and the skipper said they were teenagers. All in all we saw about five pods and I believe there will be a lot more moving along the coast in the next few months as it is only the beginning of the whale watching season. 

If you are interested in going on a whale watching cruise from Mooloolaba you can book through Whale One as I mentioned and they also have Swim with Whales options too although personally I would give that one a miss as I don't have an adventurous bone in my body.

There are also Mooloolaba Canal Cruises and Seafood Lunch Cruises  if you would prefer a shorter cruise. We went on the canal cruise many years ago and enjoyed it. 

I am not fond of being on a boat but it actually turned out to be an enjoyable experience and I would recommend it if you ever get a chance to go on the cruise. The staff were very helpful and friendly and obviously love their job. Children are welcome but obviously need to be closely supervised. 

Have a great week everyone!