Yesterday, just as Sean and I were preparing ourselves for a day of work, Stephanie called to say that there was a pod of whales down the coast, about an hour away. So, we packed some lunch, jumped in the car and headed for Basham Beach in Middleton, SA.

We expected to see the whales a ways off shore, but when we turned onto Basham Beach Road, and caught our first glimsp of the beach, there they were, about 50 meters off shore, just sitting there watching us watching them!!! Sean stopped the car in wonder, and I just kept saying, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh….”. I couldn’t believe how close they were.

So, we went down to the beach, and discovered what looked like 2 big whales was actually 2 mummy whales and 2 baby whales. One of the babies was very calm and stuck real close to mum, but the other one was very precocious and put on a nice little show for us, as he practiced the tricks that mum had been teaching him. Well, actually as he practiced being a whale – doing what whales do best – swim.

This is precocious baby giving us a smile and a wave. Mummy is just behind him.

Here’s baby’s tale, and mummy’s right there to the left. He did this about 10 times in a row – I go the distinct impression he was mooning us and the other watchers…..

Right after this, precocious baby went “surfing”. He would stick his head out of the water, and cruise along for a few hundred meters. I really wish we could have gotten it on video, but our camera was in high demand by our other camera buff, whose batteries went flat after about 20 mins.

What I really wanted was to grad a wet suit and go swimming with them. My sister, Liz, just got back from Tonga where she swam with the whales. She calls it an ‘extreme sport’, because they are so fast and one swish of their tales, and you find your self a long way from your original position…..