Whale watching weekend

On Sunday we were very lucky to get invited on Kerry and Steve's 42 foot cruiser once again and this time it was out to the open ocean.

The sea sickness tablets were taken, by some, the life jackets were retrieved out of the storage compartment, cameras, binoculars and warm winter hats were put on and we were ready to go.

We got out onto the ocean and there was four of us watching the ocean for anything that could look like a whale or whale blow water spout thingy. I spotted an interesting fin coming out of the water with a bird diving around the spot too - after a little investigation we found a seal - now you don't see them very often in the waters around Newcastle as it's normally too warm. So that was the first treat of the day. The children at this point were starting to lack interest, so snuggled up to someone special, closed their eyes and had a lovely long sleep.

We had a good look around the waters leading from Swansea to Newcastle during the morning but we were very unlucky and decided to call in at Newcastle Harbour to enjoy a spot of lunch, which was very scrummy, I may add.

So, tummies filled, children's legs stretched and it was time to go back out past Nobbys lighthouse. This time Captain Steve spotted a whale seconds after leaving the harbour (I think the commercial whale watching boat tipped him off). This was a humpback whale travelling on it's own but still kindly gave us a lovely treat and breached once (came out of the water fully) and also did a little diving and waving with his fin. Ant and I were brave and went to the front of the boat to try and get some closer photographs. Ant did really well but our camera is just a point and shoot, so I didn't get many close shots.

On the way back to Lake Macquarie, Steve thought he spotted another blow hole and turned the cruiser around to investigate. This time we hit jackpot and there were two humpbacks. They repeating breached, dived and were totally amazing. We stayed with them for quite a while and then dashed back to Swansea to catch the bridge opening.

We had an amazing day and have to say a huge thank you to Kerry and Steve for inviting us along. They've mentioned going out again when the whales do their return journey to the Antarctic with their calves. I'm counting down the days already ;o).