THE Phillip Island Whale Festival isn’t set to start until Friday, July 5 but already whale watching activities are in full swing, and not just from the deck of one of Wildlife Coast Cruises daily whale cruises.
Locals and visitors are already posting reports and photos of whale sightings and one of the good places to see whales breaching or slapping their tails is from the Punchbowl Road Lookout.
Paul Lindsay posted a photo of a whale he saw from Punchbowl Road on Thursday to the Phillip Island Whale Watchers page.
You can see more great photos on Phillip Island Whale Watchers (Ebb and Flow Photography by Jodie) to get you in the mood for the coming festival.
This week, Phillip Island Destination Tourism General Manager Kim Storey was on ABC Radio providing a comprehensive wrap up on the three-day festival, centred on Berninneit in Cowes, but including several venues around the Island, and of course, extending to all good land-based lookout points in Bass Coast from Eagles Nest to the Summerland Peninsula.
And according to Ms Storey, there’s already been dozens of sightings, including many from land-based vantage points.
“It is the time of year and in fact, the whales have started appearing from mid-June and they pass our coastline to about early September. They've been feeding in the southern waters and now they're moving up to the warmer waters of Queensland where they’ll breed in the shallow waters. So, it has been growing in sightings and it can depend, it’s a totally unnatural event but so far this season, we've had daily sightings of the whales so the humpback whales off Phillip Island and the Bass Coast.
So, the idea that you can turn up at Punchbowl Road, Cape Woolamai, Eagles Nest or some other prominent coastal location and hope to see a whale is very much an unknown quantity as far as whales are concerned but what’s not to like?
At least you get a walk and look at the beautiful coastline.
But it’s not all about the whales. There’s a lot happening over the three days.
“For the three days we're going to be based at the brand-new Berninneit Cultural Centre in Cowes and what we’ve done is gather together a whole range of research organisations, whale scientists, we've got the Two Bays Whale Project, which is a citizen-science recording project where we encourage people who see whales to record them on their form on their website. We’ve got organisations like the Phillip Island Nature Parks, we’ve got Victorian Fisheries. You're going to learn a whole lot of things about our marine environment, and the important role that we all play in protecting these incredible creatures and all those that live in our oceans and marine environments. So of course, this complements our wonderful population of penguins and seals that are out there. So, it's an opportunity to celebrate the great environment we have her, to learn from these great researchers and scientists over the weekend.”
Virtual reality experience
There’s also the opportunity to try out some virtual experiences as well.
“We do have some incredible virtual reality goggles that you'll be able to experience snorkelling on the Great Southern Ocean Reef.
“We've got ocean themed art and craft activities. We've got a brand-new immersive room where you'll go in and experience the sound of the whales and the vision of these incredible creatures.
“You'll be able to do some art and craft, you'll be able to hear from palaeontologists about the megalodon shark that was known to eat whales.
“We've got the incredible Ben French presenting two great talks over the weekend. But as I said, we've got humpback whale researchers and scientists, southern rights specialists. We've even got an evening with Natasha Mitchell from a ABC where we're going to have a panel of researchers talk and then showcase an amazing film about Blue Whales.
At Woolamai Beach
“The other activation which is pretty exciting is down at the Woolamai Surf Lifesaving Club at Cape Woolamai. We've got the Two Bays Whale Project and Dolphin Research Institute down there all weekend. And they're presenting workshops and how you can spot whales from the land. You can learn about the different activities they do, whether it's doing a tail-flapping or they're breaching and why they're doing those types of activities in our waters. And you can also learn about all the whales that visit Victoria.
“We've also got an art show out at the Nobbies so you can travel all over Phillip Island and the Bass Coast during the weekend. You can be watching whales from the land on Bass Coast Whale Discovery Trail or from out on the water with Wildlife Coast Cruises, although I think they’re already booked out over the weekend. You might have to come down again for that.
“So, I think we've got something for everyone over the three days,” Ms Storey said.
For a full list of Island Whale Festival events go to: https://islandwhales.com.au/eventsactivities
