Whale of a time

The whale season has certainly turned it on for our guests with regular sightings of these magnificent creatures on our daily cruises en route to our reef and island destinations from Cairns and Port Douglas, delighting all those lucky to see them at play.

In an awesome display, visitors to Green Island have been amazed to see the giant humpbacks breaching just offshore from the beach.

Passengers aboard Silversonic, our Port Douglas dive and snorkel vessel were thrilled to be able to swim with inquisitive dwarf minke whales at Agincourt Reef. Silversonic has one of the few permits issued by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority which enables passengers to view and even swim with the dwarf minke whales.

Pictured here, this Minke was sighted at The Point, a dive and snorkel site on Agincourt Reef and swam around the vessel for over an hour.

Dwarf minke whales are most commonly seen on the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef between the months of March and October.

About the Minke Whale…

The minke whale is the smallest baleen whale, identified by about 50-70 throat grooves. They have a characteristic white band on each flipper, contrasting with its very dark grey top color. They have two blowholes, like all baleen whales.

Dwarf minke whales were first recognised as a distinct form in the mid 1980s and there is still little known about them. They attracted attention in northern Great Barrier Reef waters because they are naturally inquisitive, and often come close to boats and swimmers.

The species is common to the Southern Hemisphere. Female dwarf minkes are on average about two metres shorter than Antarctic minkes, with the female larger than the male. The largest dwarf minke whale that was accurately measured was 7.8 m long with adults weighing 5-6 tonnes.

Minke whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores. They sieve through the ocean water with their baleen, filtering out small plankton, krill and small fish, even chasing schools of sardines, anchovies, cod and herring.

They are the most abundant baleen whale with a world wide population estimated to be close to 800 000.