After a week of rain and wind, opening day started with a beautiful sunrise, calm seas and no winds. This makes for great dolphin swimming and great dolphin watching, in Port Stephens. It was to be a team training day with new team members joining Dolphin Swim Australia.

With new staff it is important to back up theory with practical procedures so that everyone is skilled and ready to handle anything nature can throw at us. There was incredible oceanic activity on the horizon and lots of birds working. Gannets, Terns and surface feeding birds are often our first sign of what will promise to be a good day and an indication that there may be dolphins present.

It took only minutes before the dolphins came barreling towards the boat. Our crew was ready and we began our first swim of the season, seasoned hands then joined the new staff in the water for our first encounter. What a great day for Dolphin Swim Australia! October is considered to be the end of whale season, and some say the best month for whale watching as the great southern migration brings thousands of Humpback whales back down along the ‘whale highway’ and past out swim grounds offshore in the Port Stephens marine park.

Along with the many common dolphin we encountered this morning, we were consistently sighting large whales at a distance. Our team was in position having a last swim encounter and ready to enact a heart attack emergency procedure, when there was a sighting of three large whales. They were traveling south about 500 – 800 meters off the starboard side and out of nowhere, appeared directly in front of the vessel.
Well that was the end of the swim as Captain Frank immediately cut power and we slowed to a stop. With staff on the line, dolphins all around us, and now, three, large, inquisitive Humpback whales. Does it get any more interesting than this? I don’t think so. It’s an incredible experience but it is important that we maintain our swim protocols to keep both the whales, and the swimmers safe. The swimmers on the line were told to hold their positions until our huge and inquisitive visitors moved off.

Having swam with whales in Tonga on dozens of occassions, it was just a special and truly amazing encounter that followed. The curious animals were below the surface most of the time, which made locating them, much more difficult. The swimmers were not allowed to move, as this may have brought them into direct contact with the whales. These big guys began a dance around the vessel, intermingling with the pod of common dolphins and passing the swimmers on the line time and again.

As long as the whales were moving around the boat, we had to keep our swimmers in position. The water was cold, and the whales were not going away. This created quite a dilemma. After about 20 minutes the very curious whales made one final approach to the front of the boat, and with a giant spy hop, looked everyone in the eye. I guess they were saying their goodbyes and were ready to resume their migration down the coast. Wow… what an awesome experience!

All in all is was a most amazing day, and readied the team for anything. The Port Stephens Marine Park is exploding with wild life and is a wonderful place to experience ocean animals and their habitat. It is also a place where you never know what will happen next….