Each year, between May and November, Humpback whales migrate from their Antarctic summer feeding grounds north to their breeding and birthing grounds in the tropics. Separate populations migrate up the east and west coasts of Africa, South America, Australia and towards the south Pacific islands. The population that migrates up the east coast of Australia has recently been estimated to comprise of approximately 10000 whales.
Byron Bay, Australia’s most Easterly point, is a great place to witness this migration as the view from the Cape is uninterrupted and extensive.
This year record numbers of Humpback whales have been seen passing Byron Bay.
107 whales were counted on one day breaking all previous records. This was bettered a few days later with 110 whales recorded passing Byron Bay.
The whales have been traveling very close to shore with four to eight pods being sighted at a time. There’s also been quite a lot of aerial antics with many of the whales breeching.
We had the pleasure of introducing a first time student to Byron Bay who had spotted eight whales within five minutes of arriving at the Cape Byron Lighthouse. (It was hard getting him back to the language school)
Humpbacks grow up to 16m in length and can weigh up to 50000 kgs.The babies are 4m -5m at birth.
They are truly an amazing animal.
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