Southern Right Whales Making babies

An out of this world experience!
Today we had the most breath-taking tour out at sea! We started our tour off with a couple of blows from some Right Whales moving South. As we waited for these baleen beauties to pop up, we watched a couple of Cape Fur Seals enjoy a romantic kiss on the left and caught a quick look at a couple of African Penguins on the right before deciding that we would look for whales along Die Plaat instead.
Travelling whales often take deeper dives, so we set off in search of whales who were frolicking in the shallows. We didn’t have to travel too far to find exactly that, with our adult Southern Right Whales making it abundantly clear that they were single, and very ready to mingle. We had happened upon a mating group which consisted of around 5 or 6 animals, though the group dispersed and came together sporadically as each bull tried his best to bed the pretty girl. She had beautiful white markings on her belly and was clearly every tired of all the fuss already, pushing her belly into the area as a means to try to signal “closed shop”.
Unfortunately for her, the bulls took no notice of her subtlety and continued to flirt ferociously, chasing her about, rolling all around her and circling back again and again as she coyly rejected their advances.
As the whales caused a ruckus, some sea gulls swooped in search of whale skin, falling off their busy bodies as they went about their ancient mating rituals. The whales paid no notice, with only one thing to occupy their minds. The exertion of the exercise was clear as the whales huffed and puffed about, growing ever more dramatic as they tried to woo the cow.
She attempted to use us to divert their attention, moving towards the boat as the males swiftly followed. This granted us some incredible close encounters, with the whales rolling right next to us and even misting up our camera lenses with their brilliant blows.
Interestingly, today we could smell the whales, with their blows giving off a distinct scent that we typically don’t smell unless they’ve been feeding. For the whale nerds on board, being covered in whale snot and smelling these gentle giants is an experience we’ll carry with us forever. We got to see eyes and tails and flippers and bellies; we had the most incredible sights as these whales went about the very reason they return to our shores every year. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Our next tours are on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, but we’re able to operate every day until Sunday if you’d like to book your ocean adventure. Amazing weather and amazing whales await.
**All photos taken under Boat Based Whale Watching regulations, the whales chose to approach us. We are very passionate about treating our whales with respect and give them ample space. When the whales do approach within 50m, we put our engines in neutral***