First Calf for the Season!

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On Friday locals spotted the first Mother and calf duo for the season!

Encounter Bay Whales (Facebook page) confirmed the mother is Shamrock! Records with the Encounter Bay Right Whale Study (EBRWS) show Shamrock previously calved in Encounter Bay in 2013 and 2018.

Tours on Sunday got to visit Shamrock and her calf, as well as our afternoon cruise spotting an additional 2 Southern Right Whales.

Thar she BLOWS!

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Yesterday was an incredible day out on the water - beautiful winter day, sun shining and Whales galore. We operated 3x tours out in the water for Wednesday 3rd July and managed to spot 6x individual Whales throughout the day.

  • 1x Southern Right Whale

  • 5x Humpback Whales

Passengers & Crew were stoked to get an amazing acrobatic display from the whales seen onboard & we are anticipating a great season ahead.

While still very early in the season! We are still eagerly awaiting ‘Southern Right Whales’ to arrive & establish a regular routine in Encounter Bay! Sightings so far are still quite sporadic…

Whale of a weekend!

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What an amazing weekend! Reports from the SA whale centre said Encounter Bay had sightings of Humpback Whales and Southern Right Whales.

Our lucky team spotted two humpback whales passing through shark alley while on our monthly Dolphin Watch Survey. Big thank you to Sophie one of their volunteers who was able to capture these amazing photos!

We also had sightings of a Humpback and Southern Right Whale on our Southern Ocean Adventure on Sunday!

Patiently waiting...

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Winter is almost here and we are patiently waiting for the Southern Right Whales to arrive.

We haven’t spotted a humpback on the cruise for over a week but watch this space, fingers crossed our tours this weekend run into some luck and have a whale sighting.

To stay updated throughout the season check out the SA whale centre whale log: https://sawhalecentre.elementor.cloud/whale-sighting-log/

First Whale Sighting for 2024!

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On Sunday the 28th of April, our crew had the incredible opportunity to witness a Humpback whale passing through Encounter Bay! It was an exhilarating experience, especially considering it's still early in the season. While we typically expect Humpback whales to migrate through our region on their way to their breeding grounds further up the east coast of Australia, this sighting doesn't necessarily signify the official start of the whale season. However, it does give us hope that the season isn't too far away, and we eagerly anticipate more sightings as these majestic creatures continue their journey.

Watch this space for more updates!

Unoffically calling an end to the 2023 Season!

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Well it has been quite a dismal ‘Whale Sighting’ season for us on The Big Duck this year…. With only four tours being lucky enough to have Whale sightings in late July & through August.

We didn’t have any Southern Right mothers settle into Encounter Bay to calf this year, with only a few sporadic sightings. So, we are now unofficially calling the end to the 2023 season & have our fingers, arms, legs, toes crossed for an exceptional 2024 season. We may, hopefully still catch an occasional sighting from a Humpback making their way back south on there return migration the the Antarctic

While the entire Southern Coast of Australia (WA, SA & VIC) has had a reduction in visiting Southern Right Whales this year, South Africa has had a bumper season!

Even though we have had a poor Whale sighting season, we have had amazing weather and a great winter tour season. We are now looking forward to some great Spring & Summer weather. And are looking forward to bringing back our new seasonal tours along the western Fleurieu from October.

Looking forward to catching you out on the water with us.

Still Big DONUT's

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Our last Whale sighting was a fortnight ago on the 16th August - this year is looking to be quite a disapointing season for Whale sightings, not only here in Encounter Bay, but along the entire Southern Coast of Australia.

So while its a big “Donut/Zero” for Whale sightings lately, we still hold a little bit of optimism that a few late arrivals might pop their heads up along the coast?

We are starting to get some warmer weather, with some stunning winter weather in the past week. So, while we haven’t seen any marine mega-fauna - the tours on the Southern Ocena have been spectacular with great sightings of Dolphins, Fur Seals & Sea-Lions.

Past late whale seasons

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Last week we did get a small surprise with a hope to a start of the whale season however there hasn’t been a sightings since… We are most likely looking at a late start to the whale season.

In the past this has been the case for multiple mum’s staying in Encounter Bay. Thanks to past whale logs we can see that in 2015 sightings of CC (Cow & Calf) pairs weren’t seen until early August. Last year we were really lucky to have early sightings of mother Buttons and calf Bobby in early June.

We will still be keeping an eye out and looking for the first CC pair of the season.