Whale season is not too far away!

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We at Big Duck are getting very excited for the upcoming whale season!

We had plenty of activity and sightings on our tours last year from mid-July through to early September and are hoping for another great season in 2023.

If you are wanting to get a glimpse of these beautiful animals this year, keep a look out for our whale log and we will keep you updated on our sightings. Additionally make your booking ahead and come join the ‘Southern Ocean Adventure’ cruise.

Otherwise, the winter whale festival at Victor Harbor is starting this weekend and the program looks amazing. Lots of activities are planned from 26th May - 25th June, check out the program here: https://winterwhalefest.com.au/events

WHALES IN AUGUST

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The best month for whale watching is here!!!!

We are well into the month of August and we’ve had amazing sightings of southern wright whales on our Southern Ocean Adventure tours. On Monday the 15th August our crew captured on video, two southern wright whales breaching about 3 to 4kms out at sea…

There’s only two more weeks left of August, so get in quick to witness a busy whale season before they start to head back to Antarctica.

WHALES, WHALES, WHALES

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Despite the challenging weather lately! We have been seeing loads of Southern Right Whales, Mothers & calves on our Southern Ocean Adventure Tours.

Lately the Southern Ocean has been living up to its reputation, with strong swell & wind waves forcing us to cancel a number of tour departures. While we certainly don’t like cancelling tours, safety is our first priority & we will cancel tours if the ocean conditions are too rough….

The tours we have been able to operate have been met with high frequency of Whale sightings. Yesterday 24th July we saw 7x Whales on both our 11am & 2pm Southern Ocean Adventure Tours. Its so great to be able to head out to sea and show passengers these amazing marine mega-fauna…..

August tends to be the most reliable month for sightings, so if you are keen tick-off Whale watching from your Bucket List? Book on one of our upcoming tours.

BOOK HERE - Southern Ocean Adventure

The Whales Return

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Whales have been spotted along our coast since mid-May, but since the official opening of the 2022 whale season on the 11th of June, numbers have been sky rocketing. Yesterday (28/06) a whopping 10 Southern Right Whales were spotted putting on a magnificent show including breaching and fin slapping. A mother known as Buttons and her calf who have been occupying the Encounter Bay nursery for some weeks now, took refuge from the commotion along the coast at Middleton. Today (29/06) we have seen 3 Southern Right Whales on our Southern Ocean Adventure Cruise and look forward to seeing many more as the season continues.

Working with Marine Scientists

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Today we are out on the water with an internationally recognised Whale Scientist - Our skipper Rupert can be seen rigging up an acoustic device to test ocean noise in our Encounter Bay.

The survey involves placing a sound trap acoustic recorder in the ocean (see diagram). This listens to ambient ocean noise and gets a reading of our coast, the waves and the crashing noise of our rugged coastal landscape.

We then return with our vessel and do a series of 'drive-by's' at various distances from the sound trap - this provides an acoustic signature of our vessels and an indication of the engine noise heard by marine mammals at various distances.

We are so proud to be working so closely with Marine Scientists & the Department of Environment & Water.

Reliable Mums!

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We have 2x regular Cow & Calf pairs hanging about in the Encounter Bay area, and we’ve been seeing them with a degree of regularity.

Monday 9th August - we had our staff sight a Mother & Calf from the shore only 20-minutes before a tour, so we ventured over into the Whale Sanctuary but unfortunately the Whales were a bit allusive and we didn’t manage to see them……. They then moved eastwards towards Goolwa in the afternoon.

Today - 10th August we had similar reports & knew where the whales were… And saw to see them on both tours….. Just goes to show you we can have up-to-date sighting reports, know exactly where Whales & even then sometime we see them, sometimes we don’t……

However its great to see the Mum & their lil’ bubs hanging about for the winter season

PENGUINS!

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Since resuming our tours after our little SA Lock Down, we have been seeing several Mother & Calf pairs over in the Whale Sanctuary area off Middleton Beach….

Recently, we have also seen a dozen or more penguins out on the water! - A “RAFT” of penguins

The Granite Island Penguin Colony is not overly large, being decimated in recent years by foxes and recent surveys of the more remote West Island has seen only a few active penguin burrows - Which means this raft of 12-15x Little Penguins seen on our recent tour were likely to have swum from Kangaroo Islands’ penguin colonies.

The area around the Murray Mouth is known to be a feeding ground for Little Penguins and they travel vast distances (for their size) to feed.

The Iphone video you can see, isn’t the greatest quality! However you can see a penguin….We absolutely love being out on the ocean, you never know what each day holds in store….

SA Siesta

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South Australia has had a brief 7-day statewide Covid Lock-Down and we temporarily postponed tours. But we are now back operational, up & running tours once again - however face-masks are now mandatory for the time being on all tours.

While we have been away! Southern Right mother and Calf pairs have still been seen with excellent frequency along our coastline, so fingers crossed for some awesome whale watching this weekend.

2021 WHALE SEASON BEGINS

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We have already had several sightings onboard tours this Whale Season with numerous sighting over the past weekend (19-20th June 2021).

An individual Female Southern Right ‘Broderie’ has been identified from the distinctive fingerprint callosity patterns on their heads. This is the 3rd time ‘Broderie’ has been identified returning to our Encounter Bay shores.

The image below was taken onboard Sunday 20th June. Sent in with thanks from Daniel Swalling.

Mini Whales (Dolphins) having a chat to their big cousin! Photo Credit: Daniel Swalling

Mini Whales (Dolphins) having a chat to their big cousin!

Photo Credit: Daniel Swalling

Waving Goodbye - End to 2020 Whale Season :(

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It has been a phenomenal Whale season this year and we have had so many awesome Whale interactions - but we haven’t seen any Whales in the bay since Friday 31st August 2020, meaning that the Southern Rights have likely begun their migration back to the nutrient rich waters of the Antarctic…..

We noticed over the last few weeks ‘Mysteri & Magic’ (Southern Right Mother & Calf) were beginning to be more active, trekking up and down the coastline in test swims…..signifying that their departure was likely imminent.

Once the calves have built up enough fat reserves from their mother’s rich milk (150 Litres per day!), the calves have a good protective insulated layer of blubber to survive in the colder waters of Antarctica. Mum doesn’t feed at all while visiting our shores, so inevitably they migrate back south and feast on krill….

So goodbye WHALES from us and all the lucky land-mammals (people) who shared a great season and we look forward to still delivering exciting, awesome tours along the coast seeing Dolphins, Fur Seal, Sea Lions, Sea Birds & amazing seascapes……

waving goodbye photo thanks to passenger : Tina Till (taken onboard a tour)

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So, so many Whale Sightings........

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We are sorry the our Whale log hasn’t been updated for little while, but rest assured we have had an absolutely awesome season this year.

  • Early in the season we had some amazing experiences with Humpbacks as they briefly pass by our shores on their way East & West.

  • We have also been seeing an array of Southern Right Whales with excellent regularity through the weeks of July & August.

  • A particular Mother & Calf pair - Mysteri & Magic have been hanging out relatively close to shore in a predictable location and we have been seeing these Whales a lot.

  • So far we have had about a 90% success rate in seeing Whales on our Southern Ocean Adventure Tours.

  • We have also been having amazing interactions with little whales (Dolphins) too.

  • + Fur Seal & Sea Lions

Humpback Today!

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I just got a report from our crew member ‘Sophie’ from today’s cruises:

Humpback spotted and observed for ~20-minutes north of Seal Island + Fur-Seals & male Sea-Lions on our morning tour.

We had a report of a Whale off Boomers Beach in the afternoon, but were unable to come across it unfortunately

no mini-whales today (DOLPHINS)……

Humpback spotted on tour

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Passengers were lucky to see a Humpback Whale on this mornings tour (8th July 2020) and we have been fortunate to also see Southern Right Whales on several of our tours (Sunday 5th & Monday 6th) - So it has been a great start to the ‘Whale Season’ and it feels so good to be back on the water operating tours post Covid lock-downs…….

Hopefully see you out on the water with us! Keep posted for more whale sighting updates

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