I’ve been waiting for a gap to fly up the West Coast and see where the humpback whale supergroups are choosing to feed at the moment. Saturday seemed to be the day but with a forecast of fresh to strong southerly winds I was worried that spotting conditions might not be optimal. Following several requests from researchers I was also hoping to check the shoreline for dead cape fur seals in certain areas following the cape fur seal mortality event that seems to be ongoing.
I was joined by marine mammal scientist Dr. Simon Elwen from Sea Search. Lifting clear of the ground just after 9am we turned out to the coast at Blouberg, climbed up over the Koeberg restricted airspace and checked on our first seal colony at the aptly named Robbesteen. It’s not really possible to see minute details while circling overhead but we took plenty of high-resolution stills images (which have subsequently revealed quite a few dead animals) and moved on to do the same at the next colony on Black Rocks just north of Grotto Bay. We also surveyed the beach from Grotto Bay to Yzerfontein counting 81 dead cape fur seals of various ages along this stretch.
At Yzerfontein we climbed up high and made the crossing to Dassen Island, spotting both telltale whale blows and the RV Algoa to the north west. Heading out for a look we found a pod of around 15 humpback whales feeding deep down and DEFF whale scientist Mdu Seakamela doing his best to track them on a small boat in big messy seas. On the south side of the island there were a few boats out and the birds were working a shoal of baitfish with about 5 humpbacks actively surface feeding below them. Crossing back to the mainland we surveyed 16 Mile Beach from Yzerfontein to the start of the West Coast National Park boundary counting 45 dead cape fur seals.
At Vondeling Island we circled for more high-resolution images before heading across the mouth of Saldanha Bay with at least two separate supergroups of humpbacks spotted feeding in the area. Rounding the North Head into Danger Bay we flew to Saldanha Airfield for a leg stretch and refuel before heading overland to Laaiplek and the Berg River mouth. From Soverby to Slippers Bay we counted 148 dead fur seals before heading to St Helena Bay and on to Stompneuspunt passing Sandy Point Harbour with plenty of purse seine fishing vessels tied up alongside the quay. Looking out to sea we noticed a large flotilla of boats and heading out there found what I assume was the snoek hotspot for the day.
Turning south for the long leg home into the now strong southerly wind we overflew Groot Paternoster point to check on the fur seal colony there before following the coast around Cape Columbine, finding our biggest yet concentration of humpback whales quite far offshore from Duminy Point. After circling for some photos, we headed to Jacobsbaai and Saldanha Bay, routing to Langebaan and down the eastern side of Langebaan Lagoon back to Yzerfontein and eventually Morningstar to land after nearly 5 hours in the air. Always such a treat to fly the Weskus and once again I was blown away by the sheer abundance of humpback whales feeding along this nutrient rich area. This is truly a world class phenomenon.
We are now well into the season for the annual mass gatherings of humpback whales along our coast in concentrated feeding aggregations known as supergroups. There have been reports and footage of large groups further north along the West Coast at Paternoster and St. Helena Bay for a few weeks already and the first gatherings along the Cape Town coast have started to happen. My friend and regular partner in crazy wildlife photography adventures Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean asked yesterday if we could take a flight to have a look for the whales and I didn’t need to have my arm twisted!
Taking off into clear blue skies with a light southeaster blowing, we started out by flying to Robben Island to check the northwest side of the island, often a popular spot for the whales to gather. No whales spotted, not even the southern right or two that are usually around! From Three Anchor Bay to Oudeschip there were plenty of small baitballs near the surface, some with only a few birds working and others with hundreds of seals smashing the surface into a froth. At Duiker Point we found a small pod of dusky dolphins then headed to Duiker Island to see if we could spot Buffel, the giant elephant seal that has taken up temporary residence among the cape fur seals. We found him in the water in his favourite channel, not hard to spot his giant glowing white bulk in between the much smaller and darker fur seals. He actually stopped, stuck his head out of the water and looked up at us as we circled overhead!
A little way offshore from Kommetjie the southeaster was blowing at gale force and the sea was a windswept froth of white horses which made spotting any whales impossible, but just inside the wind line we saw several telltale blows and there were the humpbacks. A tight group of approximately 25 whales was feeding together with a similar number scouting around nearby. We circled overhead for a few minutes then headed south down to Cape Point, amazed by the amount of fresh water in the rivers, lagoons and vleis along the shores of the Cape Point Nature Reserve.
The wind on the sea surface at Cape Point was blowing around 30kts from the southeast but at 2000ft overhead we had a light headwind indicating around 10kts of northwest as we turned into False Bay. After checking out the Cable Restorer in Simonstown with her back now broken, we headed to Fish Hoek and flew through the valley back to Kommetjie and the humpbacks. The feeding group had already dispersed and we spotted only a few individuals here and there. We routed back along the coast to the Waterfront, spotting paddlers, haviside dolphins and dragons in Hout Bay as well as a paraglider pilot thermalling around Lion’s Head. We landed back at Morningstar Flying Club with a serious case of post aerial glow and the first aerial supergroup images of the season. Stoked! Much later on I heard from Alex Vogel (Seafari App) that orcas had been spotted in Table Bay while we were flying around and somehow we missed them. That’s just how it go…