January 2020 Whale Watching Highlights
Wow, we’ve had a brilliant start to 2020 and can’t quite believe January is coming to an end already!
There have been plenty of sightings with common dolphins seen on all but one of our trips! Summer is the peak season for common dolphins to give birth so we have been seeing lots of tiny, new born calves swimming alongside their mums. Who doesn’t love seeing baby dolphins?!
As the waters are warmer in the summer, not only is this a great time for giving birth but it also allows the dolphins to spend less time feeding and more time doing other behaviours like socialising, which we don’t see as often in the cooler months.
We also had plenty of whale sightings of two different species, the Bryde’s whales who live off of Auckland’s east coast year round and sei whales who are occasional visitors to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
Whilst the water temperature has been warm, relatively speaking, it has stayed cooler compared to January sea temperatures that we have seen over the past few years and because of this we’ve seen lots of feeding action from the whales. This in turn means lots of whale poop which we have been scooping for a microplastics study we are helping with at the University of Auckland.
Did you know about our Viewing Guarantee? Whilst we see whales and dolphins on over 90% of our trips, we believe that everybody should have the chance of seeing them so if your trip is in that unlucky 10%, we issue complimentary vouchers to come on safari again, for free.
This month we had 2 sets of passengers who came back with their vouchers that were several years old and we thought that really deserved a mention! Claire came out with us nearly seven years ago and saw lots of common dolphins this time round. Michelle and her husband from the Philippines came out with us nearly eight years ago also redeemed their voucher and were able to see common dolphins and Bryde’s whales!
Things you can do:
- Subscribe to ourYouTube channel to see more videos
- Follow us on our other social media channels to stay up to date with the latest goings-on in the Hauraki Gulf (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)
- Use the hashtag or #aucklandwhaleanddolphinsafari to share your safari photos and videos with us