Today we planned to go to Seaworld and enjoy a whale-watching cruise. Another epiphany we came across in Queensland is morning comes SOOOO early.  Like around 4.30 am.  We’d wake up in bright daylight thinking OMG  slept in, check the watch, nope, it’s 4.45 am!  Queenslanders say they don’t need daylight saving. It would help! Mornings would start a little later, and daylight would last past 6 pm.  Everyone is up with the sparrows. Sitting on the balcony at 5 am with a coffee, the roads are starting to build with traffic. People are walking to bus stops.

Whale Cruise

We left the apartment around 8.30 am (virtually mid-afternoon to a Queenslander) and headed to Seaworld, which was only about 13mins away.  Massive queue when we got there after queueing for about 20mins we found we were in the wrong queue and were sent to a smaller building for Whale watching/Seaworld tickets.  You can’t buy a combo ticket for that at Seaworld. You have to buy it from the Marina.  I know. It makes no sense to me either.  Queenslanders defy logic.  We wandered over, bought our tickets, and boarded the whale watching vessel.  Very nice, new, and comfy.

Just as we were heading out, we came across a mother and calf in the estuary, which is unusual, so the boat took on the task of herding them back out to sea.

Once out on, we went hunting for whales in earnest and had quite a successful day of sightings. Sadly, whales turned out to be as hard to shoot as birds. They’d be breaching and have a grand old time; the boat would race over, and nothing, nada. Whales gone. Then we’d see them off in the distance again and repeat the process.  Another pod would swim past us a few times as we floated there, waiting for the original show-offs to emerge.  Overall we saw three breachings and many tail flips. Quite a few mothers and calves. And a mother and calf being escorted by a ‘bodyguard’ whale. 

Seaworld

At the end of our cruise, we headed into Seaworld, grabbed lunch and went for a wander around.  The Dolphin and Seal shows were later in the afternoon. And by now, it was hot, and we’d had enough of lugging the massive lenses around, so we headed straight for the polar bear enclosure.

Seaworld had been on our list to visit once we heard that a baby polar bear had been born, and the timing of our holiday coincided with him going on display.  Unfortunately, I think he was asleep in the cave cause we only saw Mumma Bear, and she kept going back to the cave, possibly checking on the cub.  Who remained a no-show sigh  But we did see Mumma Bear. Seaworld is the only place in Australia that still has a polar bear display.

Passing the Dolphin enclosure on the way out, we added a few more tails to our day haul of Tails. It was now 30C in the shade, and we headed back to the car and our apartment for a shower and cold wines.