Three gannets bobbing on a heaving ocean gave a hint of what was to come. The gannets – black and white, with a yellow sheen to the head and nape – gazed down at the surf with a look of anticipation. Their steel-blue eyes had settled on a patch of water about the size of a bowling green that appeared remarkably calm and flat.
Other birds arrived. Short-tailed shearwaters darted in, followed by crested terns.
The birds knew something was afoot, something stirring under ocean flat as a carpet. And suddenly it happened – a humpback whale erupted from the water. Mayhem followed. Bottle-nosed dolphins raced to the spot, leaping clear of the water in their rush, landing among the snouts and flippers of fur seals.
A pod of whales feeding just below the ocean’s surface off Fortesque Bay on the Tasman Peninsula had created a layer of bubbles, forcing fish upwards. The gannets, the shearwaters, the dolphins and seals were in for a treat.
I witnessed the spectacle during a cruise along the east coast aboard the tourist vessel, Odalisque III, operated by On Board adventure cruises.
Although the company is internationally known providing access to Bathurst Harbour and Port Davey in the south-west, it affords nature-lovers the opportunity to view the splendour of the east coast around Maria Island and the Freycinet Peninsula before the vessel is stationed in the far south for the tourist season.
Whales were expected on this trip but not quite in the number we saw as the vessel worked its way around the spectacular coastline, framed by the towering cliffs of Capes Pillar, Hauy and Raoul.
From a bird-watcher looking out initially for shy albatrosses, I switched to whale watcher. Up ahead I resisted the urge to shout “thar she blows” like a whaler of myth and legend when I spotted two spouts of water a kilometre distance. In all, about 20 humpback whales were seen.
In days gone by, Tasmania was famous for its whale industry but most of the whales had vanished by the turn of the 20th century. As Peter Marmion, the wildlife guide aboard the Odalisque III explained, humpback, southern right and sperm whales were decimated. The population of humpbacks was reduced to a mere 200 animals when the species was protected in the 1960s.
“The return of the humpbacks is one of the great success stories, with a population now standing at about 35,000 whales,” said Marmion, pointing to a pod of whales off Cape Hauy in Fortesque Bay. The sperm and right whales, though, have still to return in great number.
These waters are also known for the killers of the deep, the orcas. Although we were out of luck with this rare species – a pod of 10 was spotted just three days later – no one was complaining.