Spouts of water shooting up in the distance, big water slaps and dramatic breaches, are a common sight when travelling through the clear whitsunday waters during Winter. Whales grace the whitsundays every year, but after the season ends, where do these elegant mammals go?
While whales are not known for their speed due to their large rotund body's and huge bobbly pectoral fins, their distance is impressive, with them travelling a 10,000 km roundtrip from cold and frigid Antarctic feeding grounds to the warm, welcoming whitsunday waters for breeding and calving.
Their journey after the Whitsundays, however, is not an easy one, with struggles involving depleting energy reserves, threats from human activities like ship strikes and fishing gear, alongside protecting their calves from predators such as Orca's and sharks.
Sadly, these aren't the only issues the whales have to avoid, as the growing impacts of climate change are affecting their food source, krill. Whales do not feed during their time in the Whitsundays, so they rely on stored fat for the three to four month period that they are completing their journey, therefore, with changes to their food web, alongside the dangers from human shipping and nets they risk starvation.
Why do whales risk travelling so far? The Great Barrier Reef foundation states that. "As winter approaches in the Southern Hemisphere, the Antarctic krill population diminishes due to sunlight reduction and sea ice formation."
"Whales are highly attuned to environmental cues. This seasonal change and decline in food availability prompts whales to instinctively embark on their journey north," the foundation added.
Having experienced many whale encounters in the Whitsundays it is very upsetting to find out that some of the whales won't make the journey after visiting here. To reduce your impact on our marine friends try to avoid single-use plastics where possible and volunteer or donate to an organisation focusing on protecting our marine life, such as Whales of Whitsundays.
Humpback whales, I was lucky enough to swim with in WA. Photo credit: Laura Gourgas.
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