Two Rocks sunday - not many fish but heaps of whales
Left two rocks marina around midday and went straight out to a few spots in the 30's and 40's that have produced well in the past but only size fish landed was by the mrs - a 52cm pinkie. Plenty of whales around so ended up doing a bit of whale watching as the mrs had never seen one before. I saw 2 large whales breach in the distance about 2km away so went flat out to get to them. About half way there another whale that we hadnt seen surfaced just in front and to the right of us while we were stil going flat out, was a close call. I kind of assumed whales hear you coming and tend to stay down, has anybody ever had a close call like that . Weve had them surface at the back of the boat right next to the drift anchor in the past but they went straight down and under the boat still shat myself though.
sealure
Posts: 115
Date Joined: 19/05/12
Hit a whale 2 years ago at
Hit a whale 2 years ago at Coral Bay. Coming back in on flat day at 30 knots. Whale came up under boat. We were totally airborne. I ended up on wife's lap on port side. Wife thrown hard against port side of boat and significantly bruised. Happened in a flash. We now always have life vests on when outside the reef.
A week earlier we'd heard of a boat striking a whale in similar circumstances at Exmouth. Wife suffered whiplash injury.
Like you I had always imagined they would hear us and dive.
Went back to check the whale. Did not appear to have noticed. Bit of damage to gelcoat which needed repair.
slugger
Posts: 160
Date Joined: 17/02/11
you sure gav wasnt driving
one too many Jacks....
Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
Close call
We were fanging back to Woodmans from a Rotto west end session one day and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a flash of white underwater which was the belly of a whale doing a sharp right turn presumably to avoid a collision between the two of us. I'm glad he did!
Interesting story you've got there sealure, I tend to think about the need for lifejackets in the context of getting swamped or leaving the bungs out type of thing. Although hitting a whale would have to be an insanely freak accident, it still happens hey. Food for thought (for me).
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
There's a pic here of a boat
There's a pic here of a boat that hit a whale off exmouth:
http://fishwrecked.com/image/whale-verses-boat
beeroclock
Posts: 738
Date Joined: 22/08/12
Geez if that was my old fibreglass voyager i reckon it
would crack straight down the middle and sink - think i will be taking it alot slower out there now!
Dreamtime
Posts: 657
Date Joined: 21/09/09
Had a close call on Sunday also
Yep was out on Saturday night off the west end and had a VERY near miss with a mid size humpy breaching wat everyone on the boat said was the best of 5 metres away!!! Boat got drenched big time and I had good 10 minutes just sitting there after it happened shiting myself! Reminded me about how sketchy it is on the water at night sometimes.