As a hang gliding instructor, I get to see some weird and wonderful things. Today, Wednesday 16 October was one of those great experiences.
Heaps of Humpback whales (and others) have been migrating south over the past 2 months but peak traffic is now.
The Illawarra is an amazing place to live, the escarpment gives many a situation for peeps to enjoy, be it in the air, water or just to view.
I took a couple of customers flying then as wind permits, hit the water for some kiting.
Kiting away in 20 kts, 3 foot waves, the biggest i've had in bloody months, i feel more than good. One of the legs to go back upwind, I had a "humpy", breach only 20 metres away and to be honest it scared the crap out of me.
Was fun...
That's awesome. A mate of mine and I got to kite real close to a mother and her calf up at exmouth. Incredible creatures.
Awesome, had the same experience at Horrocks last weekend.
Fun watching them cavort from my balcony. Mid October seems to be about the peak of the southerly migration, I think the numbers will slow down now, certainly in the Midwest anyway.
Select to expand quoteDave Whettingsteel said..
Awesome, had the same experience at Horrocks last weekend.
Fun watching them cavort from my balcony. Mid October seems to be about the peak of the southerly migration, I think the numbers will slow down now, certainly in the Midwest anyway.
ive cavorted with a few whales on a balcony, it was in my younger days when i was blind and wasnt to fussy, i found around christmas and new year( yeeeeh especially new year) the would be heaps of them to spear in the north of england
Hey Gus,
My last kite at Easty's resulted in a extremely close viewing of a young Orca heading south and almost under my board, so our area IS alive.
Personally, I'd prefer the "humpys" any day...!!!
Hey Gus,
My last kite at Easty's resulted in a extremely close viewing of a young Orca heading south and almost under my board, so our area IS alive.
Personally, I'd prefer the "humpys" any day...!!!
Select to expand quotecauncy said..Dave Whettingsteel said..
Awesome, had the same experience at Horrocks last weekend.
Fun watching them cavort from my balcony. Mid October seems to be about the peak of the southerly migration, I think the numbers will slow down now, certainly in the Midwest anyway.
ive cavorted with a few whales on a balcony, it was in my younger days when i was blind and wasnt to fussy, i found around christmas and new year( yeeeeh especially new year) the would be heaps of them to spear in the north of england
Haha, I'm still trying ... Not very successfully though.. Hope she never reads this
Select to expand quoteDave Whettingsteel said..cauncy said..Dave Whettingsteel said..
Awesome, had the same experience at Horrocks last weekend.
Fun watching them cavort from my balcony. Mid October seems to be about the peak of the southerly migration, I think the numbers will slow down now, certainly in the Midwest anyway.
ive cavorted with a few whales on a balcony, it was in my younger days when i was blind and wasnt to fussy, i found around christmas and new year( yeeeeh especially new year) the would be heaps of them to spear in the north of england
Haha, I'm still trying ... Not very successfully though.. Hope she never reads this
Oh god Humpback Porn - The End is Neigh 
taking one for the team 
This is why I chose my SB name ...
Nice pic Tony, they are awesome creatures. On the sups here in Tassie a few weeks back we were greeted with a 6ft dorsal fin.
Was an Orca with two other smaller ones, only 100m away! Farrrkk!
Massive mammals, apparently a couple of pods roam between nw bass strait and Nsw according to the whale watching crew.
Next time I'll attach a bottle for ya and well find out?? 
Hey Kite devil,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
To be honest I have over the past 10 years seen an increase of 1. Whales and 2. Orca's in my part of the world.
In October 2009, myself and the pilot who took this photo Tony Sandeburg witnessed 5/6 Orca's drowning a whale.
The carcass washed up the next day.
Was one of the most amazing nature watching experiences I have ever encountered.
Seems all the Orcas' want is the tongue. Hmmmm.
Eden on the real south coast of NSW has a museum of "Old Tom". Apparently, he consistently led the pod to capture/round up whales and their reward was the tongue. Interesting how nature works!!!!
^^^ thats really cool.
orca's this far up the coast, crazy... which way where the heading?
We had Orcas in Jervis Bay last year, there have been plenty of sightings over the years. A friend of mine is a research photographer for marine mammals and they just did a killer show on ABC Predators of the Deep which featured these killer whales off the southwest coast bringing up some giant squid. Extra ordinary footage if anyone didn't get a chance to see it. Has some pretty sizable whiteys too. You can Iview it.
Select to expand quotedafish said..
We had Orcas in Jervis Bay last year, there have been plenty of sightings over the years. A friend of mine is a research photographer for marine mammals and they just did a killer show on ABC Predators of the Deep which featured these killer whales off the southwest coast bringing up some giant squid. Extra ordinary footage if anyone didn't get a chance to see it. Has some pretty sizable whiteys too. You can Iview it.
that was an amazing show...!!!
probably hunting those seals that i sometime see.
How good was the Orcas under water...so clear and they were so fluid. Almost like they were in space. I have to watch it again. My friend said that the images of the giant squid do it no justice for how big it was. He has been all over the world documenting species and he said that trip was so far the pinnacle.
Select to expand quotedafish said..
How good was the Orcas under water...so clear and they were so fluid. Almost like they were in space. I have to watch it again. My friend said that the images of the giant squid do it no justice for how big it was. He has been all over the world documenting species and he said that trip was so far the pinnacle.
its funny you mention the underwater shots, i couldnt work out if the were real or animated shot of the orca's.
they just moved so smooth and looked so vibrant.
seems to be a special part of the ocean down there, breeding some big species.
