Here in Eden we have experienced the most incredible start to the Whale Season for 2020. After a trying year of bush fires, followed by pandemic, its been wonderful to have the whales arrive en masse!
Just over a week ago we were privileged to experience a mega-pod of humpbacks stop by on their way down the “Whale Highway” en route back to their home in Antarctica. The pod was positioned off Haycock Point (between Pambula and Eden) for a few days, and was estimated to have 80-100 whales in the group. Whales have also been seen feeding, which is becoming a more regular sight in this area of the South Coast. They generally feed on coastal krill (Nyctiphanes Australis) as well as small teleost fish (including sardines). This year we have also had confirmed sightings of “bubble net feeding” which is a method of feeding that whales use at home in the Antarctic, but haven’t been thought to do anywhere else. This method is not instinctual, it is actually a learned behavior, where the humpback whales work in a group, using vocalisations to communicate, as the whales use bubbles to coral a school of krill/fish.
Tick this off your bucket list by heading to our Whale Watching page to start planning your Eden whale watching trip today!
Your website is not current. Are there any whales passing now – early June 2023?
Hi Jennifer, I think you’ll find that our website is current, but this is a blog post from 2020. We have a series of blog posts which are like news items of the time, and we keep all that information available online as some people like to read back over previous stories and news. They are always dated to avoid any confusion. Regarding your enquiry about whales, the whale watching season in Eden isn’t until September / October – they visit Eden during their southern migration. The whales are now commencing their northern migration, so they can be sighted at other locations (i.e Sydney commences their whale watching season now) but for Eden the whales tend to pass by further out to sea and aren’t regularly sighted in close. You can be lucky and spot some (either on land or on water) but not very often at this time of year. I hope that information is of some assistance.