Welcome to August, where everything can happen!

why is that you might ask? Well there is the last whales swimming north and also the first whales swimming south again. In terms of whale activity like breaching there is a slight difference in what time of the year you come on the boat: on their northern migration ( May - Late August ) whales do jump quite a bit and do other stuff like tailswipes, head lunges and and and...

What does not happen a lot on the northern migration is "mugging". A mugging is when the whales swim to the boat and circle it for hours sometimes sticking their heads out of the water, having a good look at the boat. While they are doing that we are not allowed to move the vessel, like a real mugging..

The reason for that happening more often on the southern migration than on the northern is rather simple: The whales have more time on their hands, there is no place where they have to be at a certain time, so the are more curious and check things out ( like our boats for example ). On the northern migration on the other hand, humpbacks are on a strict schedule: they go up to warmer waters to give birth and mate, and who comes first has a greater chance for success.







Having said all of that, everything can happen at anytime. We do still get breaching whales on the southern migration and we sometimes get whales mugging the boat on the northern migration as well. Especially with mothers and calves coming down the coast we usually are in for a great show: Calves are very curious and also very playfull. We have been on trips where calves jump non stop many many times, only to be shown how its done by his/her mother with some massive breaches.

The gratest show on earth some might say!

Yesterday I had my first mugging of the season ( there have been two other ones before, but i had a day off or did some other stuff. So i simply stopped having days off not to miss any of the action =) The whales decided to swim straight towards our boat coming right next to use, sticking their heads out of the water ( called a "spyhop" ) they have been mugging our boat for a good 30 minutes giving everyone a good photo opportunity.



I must say that muggings are actually quite hard work, because you never know on what side of the boat they decide to pop up, so i end up running around on the boat a fair bit ( you shouldnt do that by the way! take your time moving from one side to the other, quoting Will: "those chairs are bolted to the decks and they do not move if you run into them"=) Also having two cameras is quite a work out. Two cameras? Of course two! one with a wide angle lens for close whales and one with a big zoom lens for everything a bit further away. And when they come close you never know whats going to happen, so being prepared is the key to success!

Some nice pics of people watching us from high above on the cliffs: