We called the first whale watching company we saw in the brochures and booked ourselves on the dawn tour. The skipper, Allan, told us to be up and ready outside our apartment at 5:30 AM and he would pick us up! We'd decided to go with the dawn tour, since it was said that the whales are most active at this time, and will swim up to the vessels. Guess they got tired later on as the sun came up.

Come 5:30 AM next day, and we were standing out in the pitch dark, cold, foggy morn, shivering, stuttering and feeling absolutely miserable. Along came this van and Allan jumped out with a cherry Good morning. Off we drove, to the pier. Allan walked us to the vessel, a 15 meter catamaran, Volante III. There were two other couple waiting at the vessel, equally miserable in the cold. Allan settled us in and got us hot cups of coffee and we set off.

The catamaran was fast and we soon started to enjoy the cold breeze. When you are frozen, you don't feel the cold much. Soon dawn broke around us - it was one of the most wonderful spectacles I have ever seen - the sun came out, like a little golden-orange ball, and the waves lit up, like they were on fire. Allan told us that we'd have to go out into the sea for something like about an hour's distance, before we had any chance of seeing any whales. He also guaranteed that we'd see a whale, and if we didn't, we could come back the next day. I muttered a silent prayer "Whales please come out today - I don't have another day to spend here. Please, please, humpy" The whales that came to Hervey Bay are the humpbacked variety, affectionately called "Humpy" by the locals.

Suddenly, the engine of the catamaran died, and Allan came out and pointed out a couple of dolphins to us, who were playfully jumping in and out of the water, having a merry time. We were engrossed, watching them play, when suddenly Allan shouted "Whales Ahoy!" - yes!!! the whales had decided to appear. All of us rushed up to the upper deck to get a good view. And we saw them! Two, awesome, beautiful whales at a distance of about 400 meters! They put up a lovely display for us - blowing water, slapping the water with their tails, breaching (when the whale jumps out of water almost the entire length of their body, and falls into the water on its back, creating an enormous splash). The whales soon sensed us - they didn't like us, and away they went. We were disappointed, but Allan said they were probably youngsters and therefore, shy.

He started the engine and we took off in another direction. After about half hour, we stopped again. Allan had sighted the tell tale blowing of water. Whales were nearby. We waited, with bated breath. Suddenly out of nowhere, a black, curious face poked itself out of the water!!! It was a whale!!! And she (or he) had come to say hello. It was amazing - the whale was almost close enough for us to reach out and touch it. Generally, the rule states that the vessels can't go closer than 300m to the whales. Fortunately, the whales do not know the rules! :-) The curious one was soon joined by a companion, and we had two inquisitive, gentle monsters, swimming right around the catamaran, poking their heads out occasionally, doing their bit of people-watching. As they swam alongside, we could see that they measured almost the entire length of the catamaran. Allan said they probably weighed around 45 tons!

We were soon joined by another whale watching vessel and one of the whales headed over to it, to check out the new arrivals. We were busy clicking away - I could almost faint with excitement. The whales then decided that they liked us and therefore, would oblige us with a performance! Out jumped one clear out of the water, took a giant leap and fell back spalshhhh into the water - in the process spashing water on all of us! Gosh! it was playing with us! The other one refused to be outdone and leapt right out too, breaching beautifully. They swam around us for another 15 minutes and then headed off, swimming gracefully together, blowing water through their blow-holes. As we watched them swim away, we were a little sad to say bye, but so excited and amazed at the playfulness and absolute gentleness of these huge mammoths.

Allan started the motor and we headed back to the mainland. All of us were quiet, but happy - our faces flushed, our hearts holding priceless memories of "humpy", determined that we would come back, someday, again.

Humpback Whale Facts
- The humpback whale takes its name from the habit of breaking the water surface with a large area of its back when diving.
- Humpbacks are still the third most endangered species of all the big whales, but now their numbers are increasing 13% each year.
-They are the fifth largest animal on this planet, growing up to 15 metres in length with a weight of up to 45,000kg (99,000lbs) - equivalent to 11 elephants or 600 persons each!
- Humpbacks are the most acrobatic of all of the great whales
The species displays a wide variety of leaping, rolling and breaching movements which provide fascinating viewing for whale watchers.