Laura's Lighthouses

Because I went in November, the first 90 minutes of the tour was to be spent looking for whales, killer whales and humpback whales. Our guide told us that there had been killer whales in the area over night, but they were already moving south, so we wouldn't see them, but we also may not even see any humpback whales as the orcas hunt and eat them, so the humpback whales tend to stay out of the area when the orcas are around.

(Funny? sad? gross? side note - our guide told us years and years ago (when killing whales was a way of life for food, oil, etc.), the orcas used to assist the whalers with killing the humpback whales. The orcas would heard the humpbacks into the harbour and actually pull the whalers boats into the harbour where the humpbacks were killed. The whalers were so grateful for the help, they would feed the orcas the brains and tongues of the humpbacks as a thank you for the help. Of course the whalers had to be quick to get their kill out of the water before they were eaten by the orcas! Nature! Cool!)

However, after about 10 minutes on the water, we saw a small family of humpback whales. (The family was small, not the whales!) They are migrating from up north to Antarctica. The family was a mom, dad and last years calf. Once the mom decided we were ok, she let the calf come up close to us!

I was so overwhelmed, I forgot to take photos! ME! Yes, but then I saw everyone else with their camera and remembered! The whales were putting on quite a show. Slapping the water with their fins until they decided we were ok and then playing and swimming up to the boat.

After 90 minutes or so, we headed to the island which is home to seagulls, penguins and shearwaters (all the way from Japan) for breeding. Not to mention the Australian and New Zealand fur seals.

The difference between the Aussie and New Zealand seals is that the Aussie seals are lighter in color and like to lie on top of each other and are very close. The New Zealanders, on the other hand are darker, and are spread out as they sun bathe.

You can see the difference in the photos below. Here are the New Zealand seals:

And the Aussie seals:

And of course there is a lighthouse on this island! (Of course!!)