Whales in Warrnambool: Where to spot whales in Warrnambool
It’s time to get the binoculars out – whale season has begun in Warrnambool. Onlookers have already spotted the ‘majestic’ creatures offshore.
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Warrnambool is gearing up for another popular whale season as onlookers already spot the majestic creatures offshore.
Whale watching season runs from May to October in Warrnambool, where onlookers gather at popular vantage points to catch a glimpse of the amazing creatures offshore — migrating from the Antarctic to the warmer waters of southern Australia for winter.
Some whales pass by, while other female Southern right whales nearly every year choose ‘nurseries’ along the south west coast to rear their calves.
The Warrnambool community has spotted whales already this season, including Humpback whales close to Warrnambool breakwater.
The most popular nurseries for southern right whales close to shore are located at Warrnambool’s Lady Bay and Logan’s beach.
The right whale can stay up to three months in the sheltered waters along the Warrnambool coastline caring for their calves, before returning to the antarctic in September – October.
New research published in the Royal Society Open science on May 18 proposes the right whales also use Australia’s sheltered waters offshore as a safety haven from predators.
The phenomenon has been called “acoustic crypsis” where calls made between mothers and calves in these nurseries are not detectable to predators including Right whale males and killer whales due to water depth.
The observation of these ‘quiet calls’ and ‘low rate calls’ were found in southern right whale calving habitats across the world, including t
he Head of Bite in South Australia — similar waters to Warrnambool’s coastline.
Warrnambool Tours Guide and admin for the Warrnambool Whales Facebook group Fiona Van Kempen has been whale watching around Warrnambool since the early 2000s, inspiring her to make Warrnambool Tours in 2018.
Ms Van Kampen’s Facebook group and tours have taken off since 2021 after a right whale named Big Coaming reared a calf at Logans Beach.
“(Big Coaming) was a regular and came in to calve,” Ms Van Kempen said.
“She was fantastic. You get to know their movements — in the morning she would be out the front and go around the reef and she would hang around the river mouth, and then in the afternoon she would go into Lady Bay.
“It was really good because there was a couple of different spots where she could be, people would actually communicate on the page and visitors would know where she was which is pretty cool.”
While there is no guarantee a whale will calve in Logans beach this year, Ms Van Kempen is hopeful 2022 will be a good season for whale watching.
“So some of the whales are passing through, but whales if they actually come in, and they have a calf they will stay three months,” Ms Van Kempen said.
“There are ones like Big Coaming last season, she was a little bit predictable in the movements, but there’s still no guarantee.”
While it is luck of the draw to spot a whale, Ms Van Kempen recommends a number of locations including the whale watching platform at Logans beach, Lady Bay, out the front of Simons Waterfront restaurant in Warrnambool and the river mouth at Hopkins point.
“There's been quite a few around the area travelling through so they seem to think it might be a good season, but the thing is, you never know because they thought 2020 was going to be a boomer and we’ve got none so you just got to wait and see, Ms Van Kempen said.
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