Sanwell Park and Humpback Whales

On the road again. I can't wait to be on the road again... Departure at 8am.

Phil in his element. He just loves that car. Should I be jealous?

At the Stanwell top lookout. Very windy. But beautiful as usual.

Phil was the first one to spot them - Humpback whales! Whow! What an experience, I just don't get sick of it, I could sit there for hours and watch them play.

Jacob was trying to look through the binoculars but not sure how much he actually saw. He saw the white splashes with bare eyes though and I explained what it is so he should have pretty good understanding.

We saw at least 2 groups of 2 or more whales. The first group we watched for all morning - they were so playful. Breaching non stop for hours. Amazing! I've never seen so many breaches before, usually it's just the mist from when they come up for air but this time they put on quite a show. Unfortunately our camera's zoom is not powerful enough to capture it from the distance but I found this image off the net to better illustrate what we were looking at. With the binoculars, it was quite clear.
Some facts about Humpbacks:

1. The Humpback whales that visit Australia's coastal waters spend their summer months feeding in the Antarctic. With the onset of the southern hemisphere winter the Humpbacks migrate an average of 2,500km from polar waters to their tropical breeding grounds, undertaking some of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom.

2. Whereas most migrating whales avoid land masses, the Humpbacks follow the coastline reasonably close to shore, which makes them an ideal species for whale watching.

3. The humpback whale is the fifth largest of the great whales with maximum length of 18 metres and a mature adult may weigh up to 45 tonnes.
4. Humpback whales have a life expectancy of 45 to 50 years.

5. Humpback whales feed on krill and prawn.
6. They are one of my most favourite animals on the planet! :-)

There are always groups of bikers at that lookout on the weekend. Especially with the nice sunny day like today. So they stand/sit around having coffee and checking out each others bikes... But when this black beauty decided to stroll through the car park today, I-kidd-you-not, every man there stopped dead in their tracks, with their mouths open just staring at this car in stunned silence! It was so funny. My husband of course conveniently holding a camera, totally forgetting about the whales, started snapping as if this was some historical moment in time. Men and their toys!

Back at home just after lunch.

A day well spent!