2024 Whale Watching Season Kicks Off

Welcome to 2024 and the start of the whale watching season here in Sydney!

It has been some time since we have updated this Blog, and for this season we will be giving you many more updates from out on the Tasman Sea. Our Whale Watching tours have been running for a month already, and it’s been an exciting start to the season to say the least.

For those of you who are visiting Whale Watching Sydney for the first time, let’s start with some resounding good news for our Southern Humpback Whales! As of 2022, they have been declassified from the list of Australia’s Endangered Species, a monumental achievement for any wildlife population! So a special thanks to everyone involved in the conservation efforts to help the Humpbacks rebound to such great numbers.

For us here at Whale Watching Sydney, the steady growth of the Whale population just adds to our chances for seeing the behaviours that make our cruises so magical. So far this season we have seen some incredible action on the Northern migration which is getting more and more exciting each day. There has been an abundance of activity in the past couple of weeks very close to the Sydney Heads, with breaches and playful tail slaps occurring close to the North Head, as well as opposite Manly and Long Reef.

Recently on a cruise to the south, we encountered a very inquisitive whale toying with a large ball of seaweed. At first we worried that the individual may have been stuck, or entangled with some old fishing gear, which may have also picked up the seaweed. However as we got closer to the whale, we watched it lift the big green plant above the water with its head. It almost looked as if the whale was wearing it as a wig! Definitely not a behaviour we’ve seen before, but amazing to witness. The whale then decided to mug the boat and spend some time with us before diving deep carrying on its trip North.

This particular display is not expected and one of the things that makes Whale Watching so exciting. The anticipation, and the waiting as we search, before we see a monumental breach as a 40 tonne animal launches itself from the water. It truly gets the heart racing, but even a less active cruise along the coast, with a mother and juvenile whale steadily heading North is a wondrous sight to behold.

Keep an eye on this blog over the 2024 season and we will do everything we can to keep you updated on our sightings, and we hope to see you out on the water with us soon!