Posts Tagged ‘whales’

The countdown is on!!!

With only one month to go until the Whale Watching season on the Gold Coast officially kicks off, us here at Whales in Paradise are ramping up for one of the best whale watching seasons yet!

Only a few days ago, the guys from Dolphin Watch Cruises down in Jervis Bay, NSW, spotted the first of the Humpback whales migrating up the east coast of Australia (see photo below). This is exciting news as it marks the start of the whale watching season in Australia, and

Whales in Paradise is a family owned business, and our extended family are our staff.  Over the past few years our team has tripled in size due to our year-round tours / charters, and our fleet now doing up to 5 whale watching trips per day, during the whale watching season.

Whales in Paradise end of season dinner.

Our experienced crew comes from all over the world, such as Japan, New Zealand and Vanuatu. They also come from a variety of backgrounds including dive masters, marine biologists, lifeguards, skippers, super

Gold Coast Whale Watching Season 2018

The crew at Whales in Paradise are starting to get a little bit excited, about the approaching Gold Coast Whale Watching Season 2018. The 2018 Gold Coast Whale Watching Season, will bring over 20,000 Humpback Whales past the stunning beachfront of Surfers Paradise and along the stretch of Gold Coast beaches, from late May to early November, as the Whales migrate from Antartica into the warm waters of North Queensland. Whale Watching cruises are offered from Saturday the 26th of May to Sunday the 5th of November on the

What a fantastic morning we had! The whales were at ease this morning swimming in calm water. We had three swim next to the boat for at least two hundred metres, before they all turned and swam under the boat to the other side. They weren’t finished showing off, the large male gave a big slap of his tail to impress the other whales (and us!). We then lost the whales for a few moments before one of them breached.

Our passengers cheered and giggled with excitement as the whale breached only

Whale watching season finishes on the Gold Coast this weekend, so if you’re hoping to see the whales before they all head back to Antarctica you will need to get in quick.

Otherwise, we will be starting our Reef Ryder Island Cruises Gold Coast from the 1st of December through till the 30th of April next year.  This is our summer cruise where you get to enjoy some of the best of the Gold Coast beaches on those hot summer days whilst on a secluded island called ‘Wave Break Island’.

This cruise

Even though the weather can look a bit grey outside for us, the whales don’t mind the rain and were happy on this particular cruise last week to show us their acrobatic skills.  It’s so exciting to see the whole pod become so active like this group of humpbacks did.  The humpback whales kept breaching with their full body, upper body, pectoral side fins and tails in the air with the magnificent skyline of Surfers Paradise in the background.  They were having so much fun that I don’t think they

This is the most common question we get asked from curious guests wanting to come out whale watching with us:

“When’s the best time to see whales?”

With the humpback whales being wild animals, it’s hard for us to predict this as we see something different on every cruise.  But the whales do keep swimming through the ocean on their whale migration no matter what time of day it is.  They actually don’t sleep like us humans do, as they need to be conscious to come to the surface to take a

After introducing our early morning whale watching tours on the Gold Coast a few months ago, there has been many extra benefits for the tourists.  Our early morning whale watching tour departs at 7:30am sharp, so if you enjoy getting up fairly early in the morning we can highly recommend this morning cruise.  The traffic and overall environment around Surfers Paradise seems to be quieter at this time of morning, plus that morning sun was just exquisite as the light shines through all the buildings as you cruise through the

Thanks to our amazing crew on board our vessel the Mahi Mahi, as they managed to get some awesome photos of a whale who kept splashing its tail in the air.  This photo was my favourite as you can also see the Surfers Paradise skyline in the background.  I think the whale was practicing synchronised swimming, but just needed more whales to join in.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) launched the global grassroots campaign “Tails for Whales” to show governments around the world that there is widespread support to protect

Zach from ‘Humpbacks and Highrises’ came out whale watching on the Gold Coast with our cruise on Thursday the 29th of August and managed to get some awesome photos with of a humpback whale breaching continuously.  Thank you Zach for sharing these with us.  This can be a rare sight for those who don’t do much whale watching so was a very special treat for our guests.

So these pictures are a great example of a humpback whale “breaching”.  Breaching is when a whale pushes its body up out of the water