Whales and dolphins of Bruny Island

Bruny Island
We get about three different species of Dolphins here in the coastal waters around Bruny Island. We also get Southern Wright Whales, Humpback Whales, we’ve had a couple of Blue Whales. We quite often get Orcas.

Once we a saw a Blue Whale off Adventure Bay - and looking at it through the binoculars and the binoculars just weren’t big enough!

Orcas not uncommonly will come past Bruny Island as they move around hunting food. They’ll herd Dolphins and Seals, but they’re oceanic animals – they roam the open ocean. Orcas break down into three groups – those that roam the open Oceans and they are mainly predators of sea mammals. There are those that are infrequent or annual visitors for food that is available in inshore waters, and there are those that stay all year round. In Tasmania we only get the oceanic because the amount of food is not that much – there’s not a lot of large mammals in this location. Down south near the friars there are lots of birds, seals and larger fish.

Girl observing Orcas
Orcas roam the open ocean for food
Pods of Dolphins are a magical thing to see and experience.

We were out in the Kayaks one day. We were on the beach and said “lets go for a paddle”. We got about four or five hundred metres off shore and we saw – it was just after the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia – and we saw this line of white water coming towards us – and then I thought – it can’t possibly be a Tsunami coming from the north – unless Hobart’s fallen over – anyway it got closer and you could hear this rushing and shushing in the water – and it was a pod of about a thousand Bottle-nosed dolphins. Unbelievable! And we were in the middle of it, and they were around us, and not one of them touched the boat. And the juveniles would swim alongside, go in front of you, and then somersault. We were out there for about an hour and a half, until we were exhausted.

Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphins are residents of Bruny Island's coastal waters
... and they were around us, and not one of them touched the boat. And the juveniles would swim alongside, go in front of you, and then somersault

Bob Graham
Bob Graham
Bob Graham is a professional geographer and convenor of the Bruny Island Environment Network


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