canuckkiwi: A Whale of a good time (hyuck hyuck) on Moreton Island

Have you ever been whale watching? I have. Three times.

The first two were within days of each other and in Halifax harbour. It was on a fairly small, rusty boat, with two crew members and six passengers. The first time was a bust – the biggest sea creature we saw was a distant seal. When I decided to give it another go a few days later, we did see the whale, but it was a small thing that popped up periodically, then disappeared back to the deeps. It was a decent experience, but hardly one to write home about.

My third foray into whale watching was in New Zealand’s seaside town of Kaikoura, which gets its name from the Maori word for crayfish, but is mainly known for its dolphins and whales. It was a slick affair. After paying our $140 we were ushered into an air conditioned room to watch a video on whales, then escorted onto an equally air conditioned boat with plush seating for a hundred.

We were not permitted to go outside to enjoy the view of the beautiful coastline while the boat was moving. Instead held captive inside while one of the dozen-odd crew members gave us a well-practiced shpeel on the topography of the region, and on the marine life that were drawn there because of it. This was all done with the help of a video with snazzy graphics. The boat rocked and roiled, and churned up our insides. Not being able to go outside to get fresh air, my travel companion lost her lunch. They used some sophisticated doohicky like a large underwater stethoscope to listen for the whales and then manoeuvred the boat to within a hundred metres from where they’d resurface. We did see a whale, as promised, and it was cool. But it all felt so manufactured. So Disney-fied.

Why am I talking about whale watching, you ask? Well, yesterday, I experienced the real deal: The magical thrill of coming upon these giants unexpectedly. I was on my way to Moreton Island -- the third biggest sand island in the world, and a tourism mecca, by the looks of it. The ferry ride to the Tangalooma resort took about an hour and a half and wound its way through the more unattractive parts of Brisbane River (the part fringed with cargo ships and boat maintenance buildings) before spitting us out into Moreton Bay. At one point we saw a small pod of dolphins in the distance, and the recoding that was playing over the loudspeakers spoke of the plethora of amazing marine life that lived in these waters – and we could discover them on one of the cruises being offered for a “low price!” that afternoon!

With about half an hour to go, there was a sudden flurry of activity at the front of the boat. Someone had spotted something in the water to our left. The captain dutifully stopped the boat and announced that what the two big dark lumps we were seeing were in fact a female humpback whale and her calf. Pretty cool, no? I would have been happy with that. But we got a show folks. The calf proceeded to do something that I never really thought I’d see in person. He jumped out of the water, did a half turn and landed sideways (like this!). He did this not once, not twice, but four times. How amazing is that?

Pretty damn amazing, let me tell you.

I wish I had a picture, or better yet, a video, to show you how incredible it was. Unfortunately, I brought my crappy little underwater camera and not my decent one, and the settings were jammed, and all I managed to capture was this beauty of a shot.

ooooooo....aaaaaaaaa

Oh well. I remember it, and it was spectacular.

I spent the rest of the day trying to avoid spending money on the many activities they offered on the resort (quadbiking! kayaking! fishing! segue-ing! etc!) and instead opted to take advantage of the decent weather and parked my caboose on the beach with a book. Ahhhhhhhhhh

I did rent some snorkeling equipment and go for a swim around some sunken ships not far from shore, and there my underwater camera served me well

fishies!

Let no one accuse me of vanity.

I actually lucked out and happened to be there when a group from a tour boat was also nosing about and they'd brought some bread for the fish, so there were thousands all swimming around us. It was great. They were so shiny that I could actually see the colour of my flippers reflected in their scales.

The main even of the day was the dolphin feed at sundown. Small fish are attracted by the lights of the dock near the beach and wild dolphins come in to shore to hunt those small fish. Some 20 years ago the owners of the resort started feeding them a bit, and it's grown from there. It was a bit of a manufactured experience again, but still, the dolphins were wild and behaved that way. Only two showed up last night, and for the most part they didn't want to eat the fish we were offering. Instea they were happy to chase the live fish around and give us a show. I did manage to get one to eat the slimy offering I was clutching, and I was glad for it, but I think I would have been just as happy to watch them from the dock.

So now I've got a day of nothing ahead of me. I may head back to the man-made beach at South Bank. There are some nice paths, a cool fountain area and some nice shops. I was there the other day, but it started to rain, so I sought refuge in a movie theatre (The Last Airbender -- not great, but not as bad as everyone made it seem).

here are some pics: