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Day 14 - by Brett
Up early to jump on a whale watching charter boat. I noticed on the drive there the waves at the entrance to the river, but decided not to mention anything as the youngest two can get a bit nervous about things they haven't done before. Stopped to grab Laura a coffee which I thought night have been a risky move, and it was great. Two for two! The boat was your standard looking boat with a large undercover area at the back with plenty of seating and viewing room. There were faster boats, but this one had a toilet, and given Logan's walnut sized bladder and Porter's amazingly bad timing, this was the obvious choice. It worked out well, there was only three other customers on board, and the boat was a fair bit larger than the smaller and faster ones. The reason this was an advantage was because it didn't bounce around as much in the waves than the smaller ones. Within a minute of leaving the dock, there were two dolphins following us for a few minutes which was pretty cool. It was also a great distraction from the waves that were waiting for us in the open water. Soon enough the boys attention had changed as the boat speed up and started navigating over and around the waves. They were pretty large and rolling in fast. The boys eventually got used to them and it became a bit of fun. The weather was great and much better than forecast. We spotted some more dolphins, but no whales. Then about 45 minutes in to the 90 minute trip we saw a hump back whale along side the boat. We mainly only saw his back breaking the water, and occasionally his tail. Porter missed it as he was on the toilet. Then we didn't see anything for a little while. Whilst it was slightly disappointing, at least the weather was fantastic, and by this time the water was calming down. Then another whale appeared. Typically this whale was staying under water for around four minutes at a time, but continued to come up regularly for air. Apparently hump backs have a lung capacity the size of a small Volkswagen Golf, and they blow that amount of air out at 450km/h. What I want to know is, who had the job of measuring the air speed, and how the heck did they do it without losing a hand? No one had any problems on the boat which was amazing given the conditions. We headed back to shore after having a great time. After grabbing some lunch and investigating some of the town, we headed out for some walking and adventuring on the tracks around the beaches and climbed a peak that rewarded us with amazing views. We spotted more dolphins playing in the waves nearby, and could spot what appeared to be whales in the distance. Lauz took James and Logan on a late afternoon river cruise looking for dolphins and to admire the scenery to wrap up the day. They only saw dolphins when docking at the end of the trip, but still had a great time.
- comments
Jais n Pen Awesome read Bretty.... so glad you all enjoyed Port.... think we'll be retiring there in our old age