Fabulous! Fabulous! Fabulous!
The only glitch was a minor whereis.com.au problem that encouraged us to turn Left and away from the ocean when leaving the Bruce Highway. Fortunately, I was too perceptive for them and only drove 6 KM West before I turned around. Try and fool me!
The boat was very, very nice. The crew passed out sea sickness capsules before departing (and after serving cake and tea). We had already taken ours upon boarding! Feeling smug and experienced. We were told that while the surface was very calm in the bay once we rounded Moreton Island the swells were up to 8 feet! Oh wow! Looking forward to seeing what that was like!
It took over an hour to get to and around Moreton Island. We were told we were traveling the same course that the whaling ships used to take. Whaling was BIG in Moreton Bay to the extent that at one point the numbers of whales returning to these Australian waters was reduced from tens of thousands to 300! Fortunately, they knew to stop and the whale numbers are rebounding. Anyway, it was an interesting trip out to the watching area. We passed the US Aircraft Carrier, The Kittyhawk, coming into Brisbane and thanks to Elaine's binoculars could look at the row of wrecked ships off Moreton Island. It was hard to understand what the captain was broadcasting on the speakers, so I don't know the story of the shipwreck. Guess I could look that up. G O O G L E.
So, eight foot swells. From the cabin look like big splashes of water that reach up to the top of the windows. From the front of the boat where we were hanging on for dear life as we traveled from the first pod of "high downtimers" (a technical term there referring to the amount of time the whale spends submerged after surfacing...) to a more active group looks like water bouncing up and down like it does if you're sitting in a tub of water and start rhythmically moving your legs- but bigger. Much bigger. It feels like driving pretty fast down a very hilly road- like Seibt Road outside Versailles. Wheeee!!!!! Somehow, Marianna and my mom were up front holding on with me. After we reached our new pod and the boat stopped, Marianna first and later my mom decided they could watch the whales just as well from the seats inside the cabin.
Anyway, these later whales were stunning. Lots of breaching where they rise up out of the water nose first then fall backwards. Big splash! And, tail flukes. And, thumping the water with pectoral fins. Then there were the dolphins. There must have been a hundred! Speeding through the water coming toward the boat where they'd swim along the stern then duck underneath. They were swimming in twos and threes. They swam in circles around schools of fish. They crossed over and under each other. Wow! I want to be a dolphin. I've decided. When I grow up, no longer will I be a flying red horse (a long term wish); I will be a dolphin!
Cool whale facts: the humpback whale is the 5th largest whale. It is a baleen whale but prenatally it has teeth. Like all other baleen whales it has 2 blowholes. The toothed whales, like the bottle nosed dolphins we watched, have only one blow hole.
Somehow, with whales I'm always looking the wrong direction and only catch the end of the performance. A glimpse. A really big splash. And, since I'd not taken my SLR camera and was under the mistaken belief that I only had about 8 shots of film left on my point and shoot (but with a zoom lens) 35 mm camera I didn't try very hard and was largely unsuccessful in photographing whale action. Yet again I'm reminded that Kevin tells me I can just remember things. If only.
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