Australian Whale Watching Review

Australian Whale Watching Review From Gold Coast Australia

Please note: From June 2010 whale watching season Australian Whale Watch was purchased by Whales in Paradise - they run from a different location and on a different boat.

This review relates to the original whale watching tour that I went on in 2008 and so is of a different cruise, but there are some great photos and tips in this review so it is still worth a read.

There are several other whale watching cruises in the Gold Coast area. Find out more about the operators and reviews of these tours.

Australian Whale Watching Review

This was a surprise whale watching trip for our wedding anniversary. Ahalf day whale watching cruise on board the Eclipse with Australian Whale Watching.  

Timing was perfect, enough time to drop off the kids at school and then head straight over to Marina Mirage in time for the 8.30am boarding.

There's plenty of parking both open-air at Mariners Cove (Fisherman's Wharf) and undercover at Marina Mirage.

If you have a car, rented or otherwise, you can park with no problems.

When we arrived, we followed the wrong signs!  Ignore the ones that say 'Whale Watching This Way'! That is for the Tall Ships Whale Watching Cruise check-in!

So after that detour, we walked down to the Marina, except, we took the wrong arm!  We ended up on Arm C, when we needed to be on Arm D.  It wasn't a major deal, we had plenty of time, it was just funny that we seemed to be gravitating to the other cruise boat!

As we waited to be checked in we watched the Maranoa leave to head off to South Stradbroke Island on a day trip to McLaren's Landing and the helipad was busy with a couple of takeoff and landings.

Andrew and me!
On Australian Whale Watching cruise.

Andrew trying to look cool waiting
to get on the cruise!

Views of Palazzo Versace
from whale watching boat

We oogled at the boats for sale and the back of Palazzo Versace! You can get a good view. Should have had my telephoto lens, might have caught a celebrity peering out of the curtains with their bath robe on!

On boarding the boat we posed for our souvenir photo that we could buy at the end of the tour.

On board, they had tea, coffee, hot muffin and fruit for everyone.  In the lower cabin there was a big screen which was running a DVD about whales.

Being pre-disposed to seasickness, even though I had taken my trusty Blackmores Travel Calm Ginger, I headed upstairs and outside.

We sat there whilst we waited for everyone else to board. Right before 9am, we saw a crowd of about 25 senior school kids heading down the pontoon.  My stomach sank.  There were probably about 50 passengers already on board.  I thought the worst...

As it turned out, they were very well behaved and even enhanced the whole experience for us with the whales.  I'll get to that in a minute!

We castaway from the pontoon and then headed out along the Broadwater past Sea World, Sea World Resort, The Spit, Wavebreak Island and through the Gold Coast Seaway.  

Captain Todd did the safety talk and told us about the weather conditions we could expect as we headed out to sea. He also gave us some commentary and information on some of the local landmarks including an update on the proposed Gold Coast Terminal.

Once through the seaway we started to get magnificent views of the Gold Coast high rise strip.  This is one of the extra bonuses you get on a whale watching tour.  A view of the Gold Coast like no other.  For that alone, this trip is worth it!  

The other great view is the ocean beach of South Stradbroke Island.  It is amazing golden sand that is deserted. I'm a big fan of South Straddie island!

Right, down to business!  We had to head 3 miles offshore before we could 'legally' whale watch.  If you see whales before the 3 mile mark, the operators are not allowed to approach the whales at all.  We did see a pod of dolphins, but I was too slow with my camera to catch them!

It probably took about 20 to 25 minutes from leaving the pontoon to get to the 3 mile mark.  We then set about scouring the horizon for whale spouts.

We spotted a couple of juvenile humpback whales that seemed to be in a sleeping pattern.  Diving and surfacing every 5 minutes or so.  It was great to see them, but I secretly hoped that wasn't going to be it!

Gold Coast skyline views from
whale watch boat. 
Added BONUS on your tour!

Three humpbacks off the Gold Coast
on a winter's morning of whale watching!

Hanging around the boat!
It's almost like they knew I was
going to write a Australian whale
watching review about them!

Waiting for the tail slap!

Whale white underbelly underwater
creates the most amazing aqua
colour in the water.

Spy hopping whale!

Captain Todd kept in contact with the both the 1300 Whales boat which had headed north parallel to South Stradbroke Island and the Spirit of Gold Coast boat which was further south about level with Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.  

The boat to the north had a couple of whales that were breaching, and the Spirit boat had 3 whales who were frollicking around the boat doing spy-hopping and lots of whale spouts and were just hanging around right up to the boat.  

Spirit had been in position for half an hour when our skipper decided to head on over to their position (which their permission of course).

It took about 10 minutes and as we approached we slowed right down and then shut off the engines around 300 metres or so away from the other boat.  We could see the whales around the other boat.  It was incredible.

Our captain had told us that there was a theory that the whales get quite bored on their 5,000km trip so when they see a boat and there is noise they are quite inquisitive.

He suggested we make some noise to see if they would become interested in us!

With 25 senior school kids on board, us tourists left it all to them!  They had a ball and we got the benefit!

Very soon, one whale came over to check us out, then the next one and finally the third one.

There was a fourth one that seemed to be around, but didn't come close. Every so often you would be able to tell there were 4, but it was the 3 who hung around the boat that got lots of attention from us.

I took something like 300 photos.  I made some huge mistakes with the photos as I wasn't familiar with some of the features of my camera.  I ended up with many photos early on which were just water!  

I also experimented with some video!

I took my first photo of the whales and the Spirit of Gold Coast boast at 10.34am and I stopped taking photos around 11.18am.  The whales were still around the boat, it's just that the captain had asked us to keep quiet as all the noise we were making was keeping the whales around us and we had to head back!

After about 10 minutes of us keeping quiet, the whales finally started to move away and lose interest in us! Sad as it was.  So when you look at that, we had nearly 45 minutes with them and the Spirit boat has also spent about the same amount of time with them.

Hats off to the Spirit boat for allowing us to share their find.  I wouldn't hesitate to try their cruise next time, in fact I plan a later in the season trip with them to see if I can see whales breaching and mothers and calves.

We saw them do some moves like spy hopping and a bit of tail slapping, but for me it was the incredible sight of the colour of the water when they were 'hanging' in the water vertically.  Their white underbelly made the water just the most incredible aqua colour.

We were all pretty quiet on the trip back.  We did see a whale breaching in the distance, but that left us all something to come back again to see close up!

Overall, I was pretty impressed with Australian Whale Watching.  The boat was nicely kept, the crew were helpful and knowledgeable.  It was a great trip, and I was very pleased by the decision that Captain Todd made to head south to see the whales around the boat rather than north to see the whales breaching from afar.

Australian Whale Watching Review by :
Annie
www.gold-coast-australia-travel-tips.com

Australian Whale Watching Review August 2008

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Whale Watching Hints and Tips

In response to some questions I have received I have written a couple of articles giving hints and tips for a great whale watching experience.

• What to wear on a whale watching trip
• Whale Watching Cruise - Tips for a comfortable day
• Land Based Whale Watching Tips
• Whale Watching Cruises At A Glance

Other Whale Watching Options Gold Coast Australia

Here are some quick links for each of the main whale watching Gold Coast cruise operators.

• Aquatic Blue Charters Whale Watch from Tweed Heads.
• Sea World Whale Watch from Sea World Theme Park at Main Beach
• Spirit of Gold Coast from Marina Mirage at Main Beach
• 1300 Whales Gold Coast Whale Watching by Tallship Cruises from Mariners Cove Marina next to Marina Mirage at Main Beach. 1300 Whales cruise review.
• Whales in Paradise from Surfers Paradise Marina at the end of Cavill Avenue. (also takes Australian Whale Watching passengers)

If you are looking for whale watching in Brisbane or Sunshine Coast these are the options:

• Brisbane Whale Watching Tours departing from Redcliffe Jetty Brisbane
• Australia Zoo Whale Encounters departing from Mooloolaba Wharf, Sunshine Coast

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