I was in Australia (Sydney) from mid April to mid June, needless to say there was an endless list of to dos and to goes after all it is a continent! Sydney has such amazing places that I was left with very little time to plan trips outside of it. A Whale Watching trip was always in the radar but very sanely I pushed it for June, the last weekend before exit. I must admit that we sacrificed Taronga Zoo for the giant beasts as circumstances drove us to a point that we could reach out to only one. In recent times we have been to The Singapore Zoo, Jarong Bird Park, Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) and some national parks in India but never in my life I have been anywhere close to seeing Humpback Whales.
The Humpback Whales from Antarctica migrates towards the warm waters of North at the onset of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. They start in the month of April, and by end of May can be seen from The Sydney Harbor. They go upwards toward North Queensland as their frozen homes makes eating, breeding and surviving challenging. As, I type the keys sweat dribbles out and I imagine how nice it would be if humans could also migrate so easily as animals to protect themselves from weather atrocities.
The Humpback Whales from Antarctica migrates towards the warm waters of North at the onset of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. They start in the month of April, and by end of May can be seen from The Sydney Harbor. They go upwards toward North Queensland as their frozen homes makes eating, breeding and surviving challenging. As, I type the keys sweat dribbles out and I imagine how nice it would be if humans could also migrate so easily as animals to protect themselves from weather atrocities.
There are essentially two operators for Whale Watching Cruises from Sydney Harbour; we opted for Whalewatchingsydney.net (not by tossing a coin- it was recommended by some locals) They have a very explicit website, which provides all information regarding departures (morning and afternoon), probability of sightings and pictures/ video from previous trip (highly genuine) We opted for the afternoon departure, having used the morning for the guided tour of The Sydney Opera House(a must for all the tourists!)
There is seating at number of levels, covered and uncovered, we sat indoors for a while and later as action was about to begin we went to the upper deck to be able to get a 360 degree view. All the prime spots were already taken so we stood at one side of the boat. Whale watching is a serious business, the cruise operators have experts on board who take you along with their commentary and a photographer ( his camera was bigger than my arm) We went on some un-fruitful trails maybe to lose the private yachts who follow the professional ones for their expertise in the subject. The minutes turned into hour and more, we continued to wobble with waves, the expert’s commentary also fading as enough had already been said about the whales, the skies and water. I stared and stared in the water but no luck! The wind became stronger, illusion led to one false alarm after another, the crew seemed puzzled, our morale was at rock bottom and then suddenly there was a loud roar and everybody were staring at the gigantic beast in all its pomp and splendour. In no time we sighted them slicing through the water, squirting a fountain from the blow hole, spinning, jumping and showing off its tail. What an indulgence! Then there was no stopping, we saw them from close and far, we held on to our cameras more closely than kids. A light shower started but nobody really cared and as we turned to return back, when it was least expected a large humpback came out of water like Godzilla. It generously granted a few seconds before it dissolved back in the water; that one was the most spectacular one! I was lucky as I was standing at its side. On the return, we effortlessly saw some other school of whales.
When I embarked the boat, the adventure was over but the feeling of contentment was similar to one, after a difficult mountainous trek or a roller coaster ride.
When I embarked the boat, the adventure was over but the feeling of contentment was similar to one, after a difficult mountainous trek or a roller coaster ride.