Whale Watching on Norfolk Island

In years gone by Norfolk Island had an active whaling industry where whales were hunted and killed for their oil. However when we talk about whaling on Norfolk Island today, we are talking about the conservation of whales and the wonderul activity of whale watching. Two dedicated whale conservationists have been visiting the island every year for the past 8 years, spending a month here each time tracking the movement and numbers of whales that pass by the island. Adrian Oosterman and Merv Whicker have given countless hours of their time to the whales and Norfolk Island.

This year their visit has been a bit of a disappointment as the weather has not allowed many boat trips to occur and the wind has made the spotting of whales very difficult amongst choppy seas. On these trips they capture photos to ID the whales, take skin samples and hydrophone recordings. However they had a fantastic day spotting a dwarf minke whale the other day. Adrian said "Finally got on the water on Tuesday and came across this minke (dwarf) whale. Actually, we were attempting to locate a mother/calf pair of humpbacks when we came across the minke. One of the most outstanding experiences I have had with whales. This whale mugged the boat for about 45 minutes and could have jumped aboard. Came that close we could have patted it on the nose, but didn't of course. Finally broke away and headed towards the humpbacks, but they were not interested and they managed to give us the slip".

They were on-board Howard Christian's boat at the time and managed to get these wonderful images.The top photo is of a humback and the others are the minke.