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I had the privilege yesterday of accompanying the boat in search of a "dead’’ whale – Danie got a phone call from one of the fisherman fishing in the competition off Mapelane, and he thought he saw either a very sick or dead whale just lying in the water – we got all the cameras and the whole disentanglement unit case together and launched at mid-day – after about an hour at sea we couldn’t find this ‘dead’ whale - we again phoned our fisherman friend, who pointed out another location just south of the Jolly Rubino – IT TURNED OUT TO BE a very much alive SOUTHERN RIGHT sleeping visitor!The Southern Right whales are much more dossile than the Humpback Whales so from a distance they do appear to be ‘dead’, this whale was lying deadstil as well, because it was sleeping, and that is why our fisherman friend thought it could have been dead. The Humpback Whales are also the more acrobatic of all the species -It’s only about 12-13 times a season that we are blessed to have a visit from the Southern Right Whales, they are more frequent along the Cape Coastline!
The Southern Right can grow up to about 60tons, has the huge callosities which makes it more easily identifiable, has highly arched jaws, and no dorsal fin. The callosities are huge whitish, wart-like and are patches of thickened skin on the head to which barnacles attach and from which individuals are recognized. Great courtship displays include the male leaping almost clear of the water ( know as breaching ), beating the water surface with its tail aloft for several minutes ( we are seeing these kinds of displays almost daily now with the Humpbacks as well ) . As single calf is born ( 5-6m’s in length ) dependant on the mother and suckles for at least 6 months, growing about 3cm a day and feeding on almost 600litres of milk per day. Calves may be completely white. Females produce a calf on average once every 3 years. This species has a characteristic V-shaped blow.
Same as every other day the sightings awesome – with going on the boat again yesterday I realized it’s not practical to take a camera unless you have a waterproof casing like we do, so it’s worth investing in the additional R250-00 personalized dvd that gets made of every trip. Even if nothing else, take your bathing costumes and get onto the beach, we have the BEST days, with lost of sunshine that won’t burn the skin off your body!
PLEASE REMEMBER DUE TO THE FAR DISTANCE WE HAVE TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE BEACH TO MAPELANE AND THE ASTRONOMICAL FUEL INCREASES THE RATE SINCE THE 1st OF JULY IS R700-00p.p and not R660-00 anymore …IT’s STILL WORHT EVERY CENT THOUGH, just ask around and you’ll have smily-faced whale watchers all around!
** I forgot to mention that we also saw flying fish yesterday whilst out searching for that whale – about 20 flying fish simultaneously came out of the water and flew alongside the boat for about 100m’s before going back into the water…**
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Great Whale Watching again - beautiful windstill days and ocean conditions perfect! – Danie got a Minke Whale and 16 Humpbacks on the 07h00 trip, I’m still awaiting the sightings of the 2nd trip.
According to weathersa the sea and wind conditions will remain good for the next couple of days, so please get the message out to your guests – obviously going on the whale watching trip they will have a whole other marine experience whilst out for the 2hours!
“Leviathan …
Upon earth there is not his like,
Who is made without fear.
Will he speak soft word unto thee ?”
From space, the planet is blue.
From space, the planet is the territory
Not of humans, but of the whale…
Above just some words from the book written by Heatcote Williams - Whale Nation –
Did you know ?? - ??
The oil of the whales were used for and in : - soap, margarine, glycerol for lipstick, detergents, nitro glycerine throughout the time of World War I and World War II, for brushes and brooms, linoleum, medical trusses, sausage skin, sword-hilts and scabbards, laces, surgical stitches, tennis racket strings, wax crayons, engineering coolant, golf-bags, varnishes, printing ink, insecticide, calcium for fertilizer, cat and dog food, the oil of the Sperm Whale specifically were the major source of lighting up houses, businesses, streets – no wonder whaling was such a huge industry in years gone by! It’s absolutely amazing how much of the whale was used for all kinds of materials….
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"…the Humpbacks uses the rotational forces of the planet, the azimuth of the sun, the taste and temperature of the tides, the contours of the sea-bed: canyons, pains, vaults; The mountainous summits of the mid-Atlantic ridge, twice the width of the Andes, which stretches for then thousand miles, from Iceland to Patagonia; guided by hydrothermal vents in the earth’s crust, the topography of coral reefs, the position of the moon, and its tidal pull; navigating with a lodestone disc made of polarized magnetite, a compass in the brain, sensitive to the geomagnetic flow of force-fields under phosphorescent seas, they find their way to the mating grounds…"
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ - 28 JUNE 2008 - +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
16 Humpback Whales on the 1st trip today –
23 Humpback Whales on the 2nd trip today –
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Keep in touch…!
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I was fortunate enough to go out on a recent whale tour with the Advantage crew.
I was immediately struck by the professionalism and skill of this highly dedicated team where everything happens in sync like a well oiled machine.
The knowledge of the crew impressed me a great deal and I was proud to see and experience what St Lucia has to offer to the tourist with regard to this activity.
A whale tour is actually much more than just whales, was I to discover. Captain Berno pointed out signs that the whales were near before spotting them, like the Flesh-footed Shearwater (picture below left) living of shedded skin from whales, following them around. Berno later pointed out different schools of tuna, I was again amazed how he could distinguish between them.
We also saw the Indian yellow-nosed albatross (picture below right), spending most of his life in flight and only rarely going to land.
We later saw a couple of flying fish. I was surprised to see the distance it actually flies, according to records, up to 45 seconds and more.
Although very early in the season, we did see the whales after a stop near the Jolly Rabeno, an Italian Cargo Ship, running aground just South of St Lucia in Sept 2002 after losing its engines.
We followed the whale trails, slowly approaching them. The gigantic mammals later got to trust the boat and its occupants while we could get to them as close as we were permitted to.
In short, a very fun, exciting, educational experience recommended for everyone.
Congratulations to Danie, Riette and your team!
Regards,
Barend Harmse
Ingwenya Lodge
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We’ve recently returned from Cape Town where we had our annual SABBWWA (South African Boat-Based-Whale-Watching Association) AGM, the next day a meeting at MCM (Marine and Coastal Management) discussing the future of boat-based-whale-watching, and then the 3rd day Danie saw Mike Meyer the whole day and was trained about what Mike and the research team wanted Danie to do throughout the season on the Humpback Whales. It’s an intricate very interesting subject, and I’m first trying to get hold of a graphic designer so that I can ask that person to draw the continents and explain how scientist and marine biologists have taken data from various areas over 10years (Danie contributed 93% of all the data ) on Humpback whales’ slooth skin, DNA samples and photographic identification etc., put this together and within the next 5-10years they want to establish from the breeding ground of the Antarctic where exactly which family group of Humpbacks migrate too. |
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