On Friday locals spotted the first Mother and calf duo for the season!
Encounter Bay Whales (Facebook page) confirmed the mother is Shamrock! Records with the Encounter Bay Right Whale Study (EBRWS) show Shamrock previously calved in Encounter Bay in 2013 and 2018.
Tours on Sunday got to visit Shamrock and her calf, as well as our afternoon cruise spotting an additional 2 Southern Right Whales.
Great start to the week!
Monday our crew had a quick glimpse of a Humpback passing Seal Island.
Tuesday a Humpback put on an amazing display breaching next to the vessel along Granite Island!
Wednesday we had not 1 but 3 Southern Right Whales sightings next to West Island on both Southern Ocean Adventure cruises!
Fingers crossed this will continue on to the weekend!
Yesterday was an incredible day out on the water - beautiful winter day, sun shining and Whales galore. We operated 3x tours out in the water for Wednesday 3rd July and managed to spot 6x individual Whales throughout the day.
1x Southern Right Whale
5x Humpback Whales
Passengers & Crew were stoked to get an amazing acrobatic display from the whales seen onboard & we are anticipating a great season ahead.
While still very early in the season! We are still eagerly awaiting ‘Southern Right Whales’ to arrive & establish a regular routine in Encounter Bay! Sightings so far are still quite sporadic…
We have had our first and second Southern Right Whale sighting today! Our 11am Southern Ocean Adventure cruise saw not one but two whales at Depledge beach. From the skipper ‘lots water spouts, pectoral fins & spy hopping’!
Only 20 minutes into the Southern Ocean Adventure cruise, a humpback whale was sighted 500m away.
Cruises departing Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday this week.
What an amazing weekend! Reports from the SA whale centre said Encounter Bay had sightings of Humpback Whales and Southern Right Whales.
Our lucky team spotted two humpback whales passing through shark alley while on our monthly Dolphin Watch Survey. Big thank you to Sophie one of their volunteers who was able to capture these amazing photos!
We also had sightings of a Humpback and Southern Right Whale on our Southern Ocean Adventure on Sunday!
Yes, you have heard correctly! Southern Right Whales have arrived in the Encounter Bay region. We still haven’t spotted any on our tours but fingers crossed for everyone travelling this weekend, hopefully you will get to spot a few whales!
Our Southern Ocean Adventure cruise @2pm yesterday (Sat 1/6) sighted a Humpback approximately two kilometres out from Flat Iron Rock, heading west.
Winter is almost here and we are patiently waiting for the Southern Right Whales to arrive.
We haven’t spotted a humpback on the cruise for over a week but watch this space, fingers crossed our tours this weekend run into some luck and have a whale sighting.
To stay updated throughout the season check out the SA whale centre whale log: https://sawhalecentre.elementor.cloud/whale-sighting-log/
Humpbacks are everywhere! Sighting on the Sunday 19th May during our Southern Ocean Adventure cruise, travelling past the screwpile jetty.
Another humpback spotted on Monday 20th May putting on a spectacular show, breaching just past the Bluff moving towards Waitpinga Cliffs.
Tours running every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday.
Over the weekend, our Southern Ocean Adventure cruises had some thrilling encounters! Near Granite Island, we spotted two amazing Humpback whales. Both were spotted just off of Granite Island! Humpback whales are commonly found in Encounter Bay Marine Park however they don’t stay for too long as they migrate to warmer water up the east coast of Australia.
On Sunday the 28th of April, our crew had the incredible opportunity to witness a Humpback whale passing through Encounter Bay! It was an exhilarating experience, especially considering it's still early in the season. While we typically expect Humpback whales to migrate through our region on their way to their breeding grounds further up the east coast of Australia, this sighting doesn't necessarily signify the official start of the whale season. However, it does give us hope that the season isn't too far away, and we eagerly anticipate more sightings as these majestic creatures continue their journey.
Watch this space for more updates!
Well it has been quite a dismal ‘Whale Sighting’ season for us on The Big Duck this year…. With only four tours being lucky enough to have Whale sightings in late July & through August.
We didn’t have any Southern Right mothers settle into Encounter Bay to calf this year, with only a few sporadic sightings. So, we are now unofficially calling the end to the 2023 season & have our fingers, arms, legs, toes crossed for an exceptional 2024 season. We may, hopefully still catch an occasional sighting from a Humpback making their way back south on there return migration the the Antarctic
While the entire Southern Coast of Australia (WA, SA & VIC) has had a reduction in visiting Southern Right Whales this year, South Africa has had a bumper season!
Even though we have had a poor Whale sighting season, we have had amazing weather and a great winter tour season. We are now looking forward to some great Spring & Summer weather. And are looking forward to bringing back our new seasonal tours along the western Fleurieu from October.
Looking forward to catching you out on the water with us.
Our last Whale sighting was a fortnight ago on the 16th August - this year is looking to be quite a disapointing season for Whale sightings, not only here in Encounter Bay, but along the entire Southern Coast of Australia.
So while its a big “Donut/Zero” for Whale sightings lately, we still hold a little bit of optimism that a few late arrivals might pop their heads up along the coast?
We are starting to get some warmer weather, with some stunning winter weather in the past week. So, while we haven’t seen any marine mega-fauna - the tours on the Southern Ocena have been spectacular with great sightings of Dolphins, Fur Seals & Sea-Lions.
There have been Whale sighting reports for Encounter Bay today (16th August 2023) - 4x Whales seen so far and we have managed to see two of them on this mornings Southern Ocean Adventure Cruise.
With the 2023 Whale Season being very slow to start we are really hoping that these new arrivals stay around for a while (fingers crossed).
Video of a pod of dolphins welcoming a Southern Right Whale to Encounter bay. Taken by our Skipper on today’s Southern Ocean Adventure at 11am, the group were spotted at Depledge Beach!
On Wednesday 27th July our ‘Southern Ocean Adventure’ cruise at 11am was lucky enough to get a glimpse of a Humpback whale.
Travelling west past flat iron rock, the group saw 3 water spouts before it deep dived and disappeared.
Last week we did get a small surprise with a hope to a start of the whale season however there hasn’t been a sightings since… We are most likely looking at a late start to the whale season.
In the past this has been the case for multiple mum’s staying in Encounter Bay. Thanks to past whale logs we can see that in 2015 sightings of CC (Cow & Calf) pairs weren’t seen until early August. Last year we were really lucky to have early sightings of mother Buttons and calf Bobby in early June.
We will still be keeping an eye out and looking for the first CC pair of the season.
Yesterday on our 2pm Southern Ocean Adventure cruise two Southern Wright Whales were spotted in Petrel Cove. This is our first sighting for 2023! It has been a very slow start to the season but fingers crossed we will gradually be seeing more and more Southern Wright Whales on our tours!
Our Southern Ocean Adventure cruise runs from Saturday - Thursday at 11am (additional times may be added). We are still keeping a close eye on whale sightings however sightings are never guaranteed on our cruises.
Thanks to our skipper, Kirk, for capturing this video.
We are still waiting on more whale sightings in Encounter bay with the first southern wright whale confirmed on the 14th of June.
Unfortunately we haven’t had any sightings since. To keep updated check out the SA whale centre’s website: https://www.sawhalecentre.com.au/whale-sightings/whale-sighting-log/ you can also see whale sighting log from 2020 to 1997!
Fingers crossed they are not too far away and that we will start seeing them on our cruises!
South Australia's ocean adventure experience. Take a cruise on The Big Duck boat to see seals, dolphins and whales, as well as spectacular islands, cliffs and beaches
