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Close Call
On Wednesday July 31st our tour had
a most amazing whale encounter.
The tour had just stopped off North Beach
on Hamilton Island for a break when one
of the guests shouted “look”. We all spun
to see the huge splash from a whale jumping
about 500m away. The whale jumped
again, this time closer, then started cruising
towards us, blowing each time it surfaced,
each time a bit closer. It did a big
arc then made a bee-line straight at us, surfacing
about 50m directly in front.
What happened next was awesome! Two
of the kayaks were about 5m apart with the
third kayak behind us so we formed a U
shape. We watched the whale swim directly
between the two kayaks, then surface with
a huge blow right in front of the third kayak.
It arched its back high out of the water then
slid gently underneath the kayak, almost
brushing the bow. The guests in the kayak
could have touched it with their paddles!
The cheeky bugger then began doing laps
around and under us, each time coming
up for a breath right next to the kayaks. We
were at its mercy. We just floated there as it
played around us for about five minutes,
hoping it didn’t want to get too playful!
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Close call in the land of Oz.
When it got bored, it took one last breath,
lifted its tail out of the water and said goodbye.
We recognised it as a juvenile humpback,
possibly half grown. This was our fifth whale
sighting for July but none have been this
close. ❏
Colin Bartley
© Colin Bartley, Sea Kayaking Whitsundays,
Hamilton Island, Queensland, Australia
seakayaking@whitsunday.net.au
www.seakayakingwhitsundays.com.au
Photo courtesy of Sea Kayaking Whitsundays
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October/November 2002 www.WaveLengthMagazine.com
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