A spectacular day on the water and some interesting matches at home. We left Somerset Bridge soon after 9 am on Dom Pérignon with Bob and Brian Steinhoff, Camilla, Margaret, Kelly Winfield and myself. Winds were 10-15 and picking up but the sea was even messier than expected with big swells and waves from the last two days of high winds. We picked out four or five single whales around the Sally Tuckers area but were unable to maintain contact with them. They seemed to be feeding and with the long intervals between blows and the troughs we gave up and headed out to Challenger where we picked out our first whales as soon as we approached the eastern edge of the platform. There were several blows and breaches in different directions. A quick radio call to me from a passing fishing boat indicated a group of whales on the south eastern edge. Minutes after receiving the call we spot a surface active group with other pairs some hundreds of yards away. Soon we are with a group of whales that appears to be at least a dozen animals. From past experience I know that what might appear to be 7 animals on the surface is revealed to be 10 whales on underwater video. I guess this loose-knit group is at least 12-14 whales with one or two juveniles following a short distance behind. We stick with this group as it meanders right across the Challenger seamount, from the south eastern edge to the north western edge. The animals slowly peel off but there is much activity with head breaches and head butts, S-turns and the kind of competitive group behaviour reminiscent of the bar/party scene down in the Caribbean.

  2 fluke ids for the price of one!