Whales at Bondi

cool! i saw some last year off bondi - humpbacks - about half a dozen. one even breached. and most of the tourists either didn't notice or didn't seem to give a shit! i even resorted to calling out 'whales!' and pointing excitedly, and all the tourists looked at me with utter scorn, like i was deranged. pfff. weirdos.

With childlike excitement I just watched a pod of whales going past Bondi Beach. They were a little way out, but I could see the water spouts and then watch as they breeched. There must have been six to ten of them.

So if anyone on the Northern Beaches is reading this... grab your binoculars and head up to the nearest cliff.

nette, I even it out to a group of young tourists and they looked at me like I was silly! It didn't stop me from being excited though :)

I was thinking of taking JHW to the South Coast for a spot of whale watching on the Long Weekend.

Any rcommendations?

how far south? somewhere high up is good - like the illawarra escarpment - but i assume you'll be further south than that if coming from canberra, EAW.

backontheroad: my theory was that maybe the tourists i was yelling at like an idiot thought i was calling them whales, hence the scorn. that was all i could think of. i mean, what else could their problem be? what's not to love about whales?!

LoL, I wonder if that is what I just did? ;)

We were lying on anchor in the lee of an island off St Helens a few years ago when we had to crawl out of warm bunks in the wee hours (there's nothing worse) to up anchor and motor around to another anchorage due to what we thought was an unannounced windshift. The boat was moving about and ever so gently rolling from side to side. On deck it was a beautiful night with nary a breeze in the billion odd stars that surrounded us.

We were all starting to wonder whether we were all having the same weird dream when a sixty odd feet of barnacle encrusted behemoth glided effortlessly under the steel keel and commenced to scratching its back with the result that the boat was ever so slightly being lifted out of the water every time it made a pass. It kept this up for about another twenty or so minutes when it disappeared, obviously satisfied with its efforts. Back to bed, us.

I do not understand why anyone would want to harpoon them.

Me either. One day I'm going whale watching. I hope they come into the harbour again. The year they came almost down to the Bridge I wasn't in Sydney.

It's a boy thing, EAW. When was the last time you spotted a harpoonist in a dress?

DD, that is so amazing. How scary though!!

An Orca brached beside a boat I was on once, travelling from Brampton to Hamilton Island.

Well, it wasn't really. The boat was a 56ft fishing vessel. As much as we all enjoyed the spectacle we were glad to get back to bed. I saw quite a few migratory whales on the east coast when I was fishing. It was only when we were fishing in smaller 21ft Shark Cats that you became more than just slightly apprehensive when something three times the length of your vessel casually slips beneath the surface for minutes at a time, only to explode with a fury unrivalled in nature a mere fifty metres away. And every time they sounded you couldn't help but ponder - what if they came up under the boat?

i want the humpbacks to hump under the harbour bridge again. what a PR masterstroke that was. they need to get harry m. miller onboard and get themselves a book deal if they want to keep those 'scientific research' nutters from flensing them. it'll take more than 'girlfriend 2006' and her petition over there at anchorage to get in the way of japan's pathological refusal to be told what to do.

I've seen them a couple times at Bondi.

Once there was quite a small one close to the beach.
It was lifting it's tail in the air.
It was pretty cool.

I should look out for them more often.

Just a quick update. Abou half an hour ago I could see them near South Head. They must be close to Norht Head or Manly by now. :)

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>And every time they sounded you couldn't help but ponder - what if they came up under the boat? <hr></blockquote> My nephew likes to tell the story of when he was game fishing off Moreton Island. A pod of humpbacks was passing by having a great time. They could actually see a couple of them clearly on the depth sounder. They watched as one of the whales dived straight down for 100 metres or so. They then watched in horror as it came back towards the surface at a great rate of knots--- right underneath them. It breached maybe 10 metres from the stern, flooding the cockpit and soaking them.

If only whales could laugh, I reckon that one would be splitting its sides.

Good place to watch from on the south coast is ther Narooma Golf Club, Lis.

In Sydney another good spot is Cape Solander out in Kurnell Nat Park.

Wow, I take all this for granted when back home. We just have so many whales heading up the coast off Port Stephens its become a daily occurance to witness their migration. Best place ive ever been to for whale watching though, was the head of the bight near Yalata, Sth Oz. Most ive ever seen in one location was off Ballina. Literally dozens of em breaching all day, while we sailed the coast. Was always told that you never spot them heading south after their annual nth coast run, until 3 years ago I believed it.

gdonya - kurnell is at botany bay. the national park is actually 'botany bay national park'. it covers both headlands of the bay, both the southern one at kurnell and the northern one near botany. yes, it's south, no, it's not near the royal national park.

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<hr>When was the last time you spotted a harpoonist in a dress? <hr></blockquote>

You should have seen me Barra fishing DD !

Glad I didn't chuck the fishnets after Cape Trib ...

I saw whales when i was going for a job at bondi beach. quite amazing!! i had no idea what type they were but the surfers were so close to them it was unbelievable. I agree that killing whales is just insane. could there be a more beautiful and graceful creature.