Humpback Heaven and Heaving What a day! I caught the sun and ended up with a red nose. I nearly threw up with motion sickness. But I saw the incredible sight of 5 pods of humpback whales migrating up the Queensland coast - AWESOME! The day started early and Gary, Sheila and I boarded the purpose built catamaran, Eye Spy at Redcliffe. It was a large boat with rails all the way round on three levels for maximum whale viewing. Then Captain Kerry, yes a woman, set sail for Moreton Bay. We left the few morning clouds behind us, and with a coffee and carrot cake in hand we headed across the bay and past Moreton Island. The sea was like glass, but as my friends can tell would not normally stop my motion sickness and ever prepared I had taken my sea sickness tablets. I was, as usual, dressed in black with only the grey of my motion sickness acupressure wristbands for contrast. As we approached the island and left the shelter of the bay behind, we started to sway a little more. The sea moved from green to blue reefs added a touch of breaking white foam, the scene completed with the sand dunes of Moreton Island as a backdrop. The crew looked out to sea, hoping to spot the blow of the humpbacks when they come up to breathe. This fishy smelling spray is remarkably easy to spot, as are the footprints left when the whale goes back under the water. As the whales dives, it's tail forms a vortex completely flattening the water above. Whales were spotted almost immediately, and the engines slowed and we drifted towards them. The whales had known we were on our way long before we saw them, they can hear for 350km under water. They were in a pod of 3, quite young and as curious about us as we were about them. Within minutes they were right by the boat, under the boat, on the left on the right. Each time they surfaced to breathe you just stood opened mouthed. Then one of the whales, breached, jumping sideways and making a large splash, as it to say "Look at me, Look at me!". This particular whale really put on a show. He spy hopped, lifting his head out of the water, to take a look at the boat full of waving people. He completed the most elegant of back strokes, waving back to us on the boat with his flippers. He breached, jumping time and time again, completing the huge leap with just two flick of his tail. They 'mugged' the boat coming in close and looking at all of us waving frantically on the boat. Even lunch did not interrupt the whale viewing, as the buffet area was encased in huge windows. As you were lower in the water the view was even better, as you felt you were almost in the water with the whales. However, being lower in the water also meant that I felt very queasy very quickly! I had ordered a veggie meal, it arrived a beautiful selection of cheese sun dried tomatoes, apricots, walnuts. But two mouthfuls and I had to dive upstairs and lay down on a bench apparently the colour of avocados. Luckily the motion sickness disappeared and the whales continued to frolic near us, and in the end it was us that had to depart for shore and leave them to their games. Before we left we saw dolphins riding on the noses of the whales, a hammerhead shark and loggerhead turtle. It was truly a wondrous few hours, and left you with a feeling of how wonderful the diversity of nature is, how majestic these creatures are and how important it is to stop the Japanese from resuming commercial whaling. I would thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone, the crew all seemed as in awe of the whales as we were and I truly believe the whales enjoyed their brief time with us as much as we enjoyed our glimpse of them. Check out the photos on the website - there were a lot taken of splashes but a couple capture how close these beautiful creatures were to us. I am heading off to Darwin soon, after my break from backpackers with Gary and Sheila. As always many thanks to them, I have been treated to home cooked meals, clean sheets and plenty of good books. The cats will be pleased to see the Pom with the flip flops go, and Possum will have his spot back on the sofa. Love to you all Take Care Lynne xxxxxx