The speck in the water in this photo might be hard to see, but it has caused excitement to ripple throughout the Fleurieu’s whale-loving community, as it appears to be the first whale in the area for the season.
This photo, along with the first reported sighting, was recorded on Sunday, May 7.
The Victor Harbor-based SA Whale Centre posted on Facebook at 6.30pm on Sunday that the first sighting might have been made.
“From 5pm there have been multiple reports of a whale breaching approximately 50-100 metres north of Granite Island, Victor Harbor,” the post stated.
Unfortunately it could not be determined whether the whale was a humpback or southern right, the two most commonly-seen whales in Encounter Bay waters.
Kristal Matthews was the first to make the sighting; she posted on Facebook just before 5.30pm that she was on the island and there was a whale near the cafe.
“As I was walking over the bridge I was looking over in the distance and noticed a whale tail – this was around 5pm,” she told Fleurieu Sun. “I pointed it out to my sister and she saw it too.
“I didn’t expect to see them yet, but was yarning with someone earlier that day about the whales saying they will be here soon – just didn’t expect it that soon.”
As they walked closer to the jetty by the cafe on the eastern side of the island to get closer to where the whale was, it was “spraying out water”, Kristal said.
“It stayed around the whole time, we left just before 6pm as it was getting too dark and it was slowly heading off towards Hayborough way,” she said.
“The whale moved around that area a bit, back and forth but stayed within eye shot.” The sighting was made better with a couple of pods of dolphins playing nearby as well.
The SA Whale Centre urged anyone who saw the whale to contact them on 8551 0750 or whalecentre@victor.sa.gov.au as both it and the Encounter Bay Right Whale Study group would love to hear more about it.
For the latest whale sightings, visit www.sawhalecentre.com.au/ whale-sightings/whale-sightinglog/
