August has just started and it’s the middle of winter but boy oh boy is it warm! In these winter mornings there is a breeze blowing cool air from the inside of this remarkable continent. That makes for a perfect day to raise the sails and head out whale watching, relax, unwind and then jump in the crystal clear waters of the Ningaloo Reef in the afternoon and go exploring.
Our crew on this day was a real mixture. British, Italian, & Australian as always lead by John, Luke & Lannie.
We headed out of the reef under full sail, all eyes on the lookout for and spouts of humpback whales in the distance. It wasn’t the fine mist of spouts that we sighted though, rather the huge splashes of breaching whales in the distance.
Having watched our first 2 whales continue their determined journey north for half an hour we headed back towards Batemans Bay and came across another 2 whales resting in the calm blue waters. 
With the sun nearing its peak in the sky the wind had dropped off and the day was turning out to be a real gem. Whale spouts could be seen to the North of us and even to the south of us. It wasn’t too long and a couple more whales came to check out good old Shore Thing, not once, not twice, but 4 times they came in to have a real good look at what Shore Thing had too offer, and boy oh boy did the the crew on board get a good look. One of our youngest crew members for the day, Taeya, all the way up from Melbourne, felt the mist from the whale’s spout as it came up right next to the boat to say hello.
The whales were off again though, determined to catch up with some old friends and we also started heading into towards Coral Bay as the bbq was being cooked. As we sat down to eat yet another freshly prepared meal by Lannie, featuring some homemade burgers, lentil salad, and pasta salad, John had eyed off yet another bit of whale action not too far away.
As we glided over, plates of food were hurriedly finished off and cleared out of the way as everyone made their way up on deck for a prime position as a small humpback calf, probably only a few weeks old was trying to breach for possibly the very first time. The little guy was being watched over closely by his very large mother and another whale, probably their escort.
The mercury was rising and it was time for us to get in the water and practice some of our breaching as well. Ok so we weren’t breaching but we had a damn good time snorkeling in “Pandora’s garden” as we came across 5 different turtles, a large sting ray and the true highlight was 50 baby reef sharks all about 50cm long!
Another great summer’s day out and about on the waters of Ningaloo Reef aboard Shore Thing….wait a second! It’s winter isn’t it? Why was it so hot then? 27c is not winter is it? Am I going crazy?
Who’s complaining?
